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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;beef1020, post: 2445787, member: 24544&quot;]Of course they are not perfect, but don&#039;t make perfect the enemy of useful.&nbsp; Rarity has a definition in numismatics, it means the total number of extant coins at any given time.&nbsp; All the different scales are different attempts at classifying which counts should be called what.&nbsp; But they all recognize the basic concept that rarity scales are an attempt to quantify how many coins are known to exist today.&nbsp; Given that collectors have been using, and finding it useful, for over 50 years, if you have a different concept you are interested in quantifying then call it something else.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>No, absolute rarity is a quantifiable term based on a census and generally agreed upon by serious collectors in any given field.&nbsp; Take large cents for instance, there is a tremendous amount of work done by a group of collectors to keep the census numbers up to date for each variety.&nbsp; Over time, as more coins are found, those numbers increase, but the rarity scale represents a measurable quantity.&nbsp; The notion of relative rarity or some metric that includes &#039;demand&#039; is not a directly measurable and quantifiable construct.&nbsp; And, I would add, that given the absolute rarity census that already exist, <b>price</b> becomes a pretty darn good indicator of demand or relative rarity as you like to call it.&nbsp; This notion of relative rarity does not add value, and is a categorically different metric than absolute rarity.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>All systems of classification depend on arbitrarily agreed upon definitions.&nbsp; Where the line is drawn is not important, that we all have a commonly understood and agreed upon definition is where the value of a rarity scales comes from.&nbsp; I could give two turds if the coin I have is &#039;Rare&#039;, &#039;Very Rare&#039;, &#039;Scarce&#039;, or whatever, I just want to know quantitatively that when I buy a large cent that a dealers calls &#039;Rare&#039;, I know exactly what they mean.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>If you would like to call this concept by a specific name, feel free to come up with one.&nbsp; Just don&#039;t call it rare, because rare already has an agreed upon definition, and a million existing coins is not anyone&#039;s idea of rare.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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