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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GDJMSP, post: 95295, member: 112&quot;]In my opinion the problem is the word itself - it is not used properly. Or to be more precise, it is not properly understood, especially when talking about coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>These are the 3 standard definitions for the word - </p><p><br /></p><p>1 - Infrequently occurring; uncommon: a rare event; a plant that is rare in this region. </p><p>2 - Excellent; extraordinary: a rare sense of honor. </p><p>3 - Thin in density: rarefied: rare air. </p><p><br /></p><p>Now when talking about coins, the first two of those definitions could apply, and be accurate. Trouble is, when people read the word as part of a description about a coin - they normally think of defintion number 1 and forget all about defintion number 2. And when people think of definition #1 they automatically assume that uncommon means very few of them exist.</p><p><br /></p><p>So while a coin might honestly be described as excellent or extraoridnary - that does not necessarily mean that it is uncommon. For example, a Morgan dollar - how many descriptions for Morgan dollars have you read that use the word rare ? Even if the description were for an 1893-S, the so called rarest of the business strike Morgans - is it really rare ? </p><p><br /></p><p>Well, assuming you have the money, on any day you choose you can go out and buy at least a dozen of them. I don&#039;t know about you, but to me something so easily obtained is not rare. </p><p><br /></p><p>To me, if a coin is described as rare - it means there are fewer than 10 known to exist. But then that&#039;s why coin collectors developed rarity scales. There are several, and they all define different degrees of rarity.</p><p><br /></p><p>Then of course there are different &quot;types&quot; of rarity as well. There is absolute rarity which might be defined as the number of a given item that currently exist. And then there is conditional rarity which may be defined as the number of items that exist in a given condition. Which of course when talking about coins means their grade. And these two different types of rarity can be in direct conflict with one another.</p><p><br /></p><p>For example, there may be well over 5 billion 2001-D cents that exist - certainly not rare by any description. But how many have you ever seen graded as MS69 ?</p><p><br /></p><p>So you can see how easy it is for the word, rare, to be misused, and more importantly - misunderstood.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now, nickelman, I have a question for you. Did you ask the wrong question ? Did you really mean to ask - what makes a coin valuable ?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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