Raze Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 Is there a website that will give you a Rarity / Scarcity rating? I dont have a Gerber photo journal. The reason Im asking is I bought a GA book today that said it was "Scarce" on the post it note, and last Sunday I bought a book Ive never heard of, both books have less than 2 books listed on ebay with 1 at least sold of each. Does that make them "rare or scarce"? One book has a CGC census of 13 (grade ranges from .5-7.0) the other has 63 (grades .5-9.0) jimjum12 and ChillMan 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Love Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 As regards your second question Commonly, rarity speaks to value while scarcity speaks to availability relative to demand Raze, Professor K, Dr. Balls and 1 other 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamstrange Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 On 10/27/2022 at 12:26 AM, Raze said: Is there a website that will give you a Rarity / Scarcity rating? You can get this from pretty much every dealer's website or eBay store. Possible Sources for Scarcity Info: Gerber included a Scarcity Index in his Photo Journal Guide to Comic books, which is highly recommended for any GA collector, especially new ones. This index is from 1990 and reflects the thoughts of a few knowledgeable individuals at that point in time. Overstreet Guide Heritage Auction Archives (but not everything has been sold through their site) CGC Census (but not everything has been slabbed, especially inexpensive comics) thehumantorch, Raze and aardvark88 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aman619 Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 I like to Think that he term scarce is only used for books Overstreet names as scarce. Similar to how a book may use a first appearance notation also grandfathered into their selling description data. And since he old scarcity rankings have evolved, old listings debunked, others now considered scarce, sellers probably keep saying scarce where the Guide uses it, but feel free to use it for other books talked about as s scarce, or scarce in grade — which often gets left off. jimjum12, djzombi and Raze 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Readcomix Posted October 27, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted October 27, 2022 Over street used to provide their definitions of rare and scarce in the front of the guide, but I just flipped through #50 and cannot find anything, so I’m not sure if they define them the same way today. I can dig up an older guide later, but I recall they used to define rare as an estimated fewer than 20 copies in existence and scarce as an estimated 20 to 100 copies in existence. How exactly they arrived at these definitions and how they determined which books to apply these descriptors to was never stated clearly, as I recall. I always assumed they were anecdotal estimates made by Overstreet and his advisers based on the collective apocrypha about various known-to-be tough books. Badger, Raze, jimjum12 and 3 others 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tth2 Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 On 10/27/2022 at 12:26 PM, Raze said: One book has a CGC census of 13 (grade ranges from .5-7.0) the other has 63 (grades .5-9.0) Based on those census numbers, however the terms are defined, the 2 books you just bought are neither rare nor scarce. Raze 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan. Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 On 10/27/2022 at 9:33 AM, tth2 said: Based on those census numbers, however the terms are defined, the 2 books you just bought are neither rare nor scarce. I had the same thought. Raze 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raze Posted October 27, 2022 Author Share Posted October 27, 2022 On 10/26/2022 at 11:47 PM, Dr. Love said: As regards your second question Commonly, rarity speaks to value while scarcity speaks to availability relative to demand Thats is a great way to look at that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThothAmon Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 All of the sources mentioned are helpful especially as the books get more expensive. Not so much for low price books with little to no demand. I also use CGCdata.com to get a historical perspective of the census. My personal definition is scarce are books I don’t own and rare are books I’ve hardly if ever seen. jimjum12, KCOComics and Raze 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raze Posted October 27, 2022 Author Share Posted October 27, 2022 On 10/27/2022 at 8:33 AM, tth2 said: Based on those census numbers, however the terms are defined, the 2 books you just bought are neither rare nor scarce. I thought the one book with only 13 graded would be scarce. It seems like a low number, and for that matter 63 seems low as well. I say that because Ive seen somewhere that the gerber rating said something to the effect of a gerber 6 have 20-200 known copies, but because it was released in the 90s (gerber photo journal) that you should double the number. So a gerber 6 should have 40-400 copies. Both have under that number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCOComics Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 Can you tell us the books (or did I miss it)? Raze 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThothAmon Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 Without knowing what comics you are referring to makes the numbers themselves somewhat meaningless. Take my Comics on Parade 37, a Gerber 4. rare? Scarce? Neither in my book because the demand is low. Cool fodder. Point Five, tth2, Mmehdy and 1 other 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Robot Man Posted October 27, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted October 27, 2022 On 10/27/2022 at 7:10 AM, ThothAmon said: All of the sources mentioned are helpful especially as the books get more expensive. Not so much for low price books with little to no demand. I also use CGCdata.com to get a historical perspective of the census. My personal definition is scarce are books I don’t own and rare are books I’ve hardly if ever seen. Agreed. Although, stating a book is rare or scarce is rather personal and limiting. No one really knows exactly. I usually use personal experience. I track most GA books in the computer that is my brain. If in 50+ years of collecting, I’ve never heard of one, it’s probably tough. Now, I don’t always use scarce or rare when assigning value. There are a lot that have very little interest to many collectors and thusly, have very little value. Rare does not always equal big money. You have to add in demand. Raze, Larryw7, IngelsFan and 2 others 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 On 10/27/2022 at 7:50 AM, ThothAmon said: Without knowing what comics you are referring to makes the numbers themselves somewhat meaningless. Take my Comics on Parade 37, a Gerber 4. rare? Scarce? Neither in my book because the demand is low. Cool fodder. But just try to find one if you are looking for one… jimjum12 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ThothAmon Posted October 27, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted October 27, 2022 On 10/27/2022 at 10:56 AM, Robot Man said: But just try to find one if you are looking for one… Lol. Ryan., Yorick, MrBedrock and 5 others 3 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Robot Man Posted October 27, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted October 27, 2022 On 10/27/2022 at 7:14 AM, Raze said: I thought the one book with only 13 graded would be scarce. It seems like a low number, and for that matter 63 seems low as well. I say that because Ive seen somewhere that the gerber rating said something to the effect of a gerber 6 have 20-200 known copies, but because it was released in the 90s (gerber photo journal) that you should double the number. So a gerber 6 should have 40-400 copies. Both have under that number. Gerber had limited knowledge when he assigned those scarcity values. In general he was fairly correct. But there were hundreds or thousands of collectors he didn’t contact. In all fairness, how could he? I personaly know of 2 Action #1’s that are in collections of very old private collectors that have never seen the light of day. The two collectors have never used the internet or traveled out of the areas they live in. Raze, jimjum12, ThothAmon and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qalyar Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 The problem -- well, okay, a problem -- with using the CGC Census as a measure of actual scarcity is that the Census is something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. People largely (but not exclusively) get books slabbed because they are perceived as having broad market appeal, which in turn ensures they are more visible on the secondary markets, which increases that very perception. Books that don't get drawn into that cycle -- especially including disfavored genres like joke books or non-Disney funny animals -- are encapsulated less often on both a relative and absolute basis. It is very difficult to take that (or any) single data set and use it to distinguish between lack of available copies versus mere lack of interest. Raze 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fifties Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 Here's Ernie Gerber's scarcity index; Keep in mind though that it was done "pre-internet". If it had been done this century, the numbers might look different. There is no reference to money value, nor should there be, since that depends on demand. A copy of Phantom Lady is certainly going to be worth far more than a different comic book female, such as Little Lulu. Raze and Larryw7 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Raze Posted October 28, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 28, 2022 On 10/27/2022 at 9:44 AM, KCOComics said: Can you tell us the books (or did I miss it)? If I share them I cant put "Rare / Scarce" in my sales thread title Here they are. I wanted the Approved Comics 9 for the Baker cover the post it said "Very Scarce Matt Baker Cover Golden Age!" and the Atomic Thunderbolt was a late add on to a multi book deal. KCOComics, Tri-Color Brian, ThothAmon and 2 others 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted October 28, 2022 Share Posted October 28, 2022 On 10/27/2022 at 5:42 PM, Raze said: If I share them I cant put "Rare / Scarce" in my sales thread title Here they are. I wanted the Approved Comics 9 for the Baker cover the post it said "Very Scarce Matt Baker Cover Golden Age!" and the Atomic Thunderbolt was a late add on to a multi book deal. I hope you didn’t have to pay “very scarce” prices for them… Raze 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...