Tom posted; "A $1.00 harrah's yellow brass may be rare to someone who lives on the East Coast, but to someone one who lives in Reno, the chips are still in use on the crap tables at Harrah's."

If it's commonly available, I don't agree that where a person lives has anything to do with something being "rare".

It is my personal opinion that either the item is "rare" (as in rarely offered for sale) or it is not ... especially with the internet now in common every-day-use a collector can find virtually anything that is commonly available ... such as the $1 Harrah's example.