... of the beholder, I guess, Arch! <g>

I understand the point you are trying to make regarding supply & demand both being components of "rarity"; just happen to disagree on the concept.

To choose a different word with a someone similar function, let's consider:

"unique"

Now, some common usage notwithstanding, "unique" means that there is ONLY ONE of the particular item. Now let's say we have two different "unique" items:

1) a highly desirable casino chip: e.g. (selected at random from among the listed "unique" chips), the Thunderbird 3rd issue $25 green arodie chip (see p.144 Campiglia/Wells).

2) a frozen chunk of Mastadon dung, in the exact size and shape of a casino chip, rescued from the steppes of Siberia.

I'm sure that hundreds, if not thousands, of chip collectors would want the Thunderbird chip (albeit very few could afford it).

I'm not sure how many chip collectors would want the mastadon chip, but suspect that the number would be exceedingly small.

Does that mean that the Thunderbird is "unique" because it is also in high demand and that the Mastadon would not be "unique" because there is no demand. Obviously not. And, in my opinion, "rare" is different in degree from "unique", but not different in kind.

BTW, I had forgotten but rediscovered tonight that Howard and Kregg Herz in their excellent book "A Collector's Guide to Nevada Gaming Checks & Chips" included a "Rarity" scale identical in concept if slightly different in detail from that in Campiglia Wells.

The two scales compare as follows:

Rarity Scale ----- Campiglia/Wells -------- Herz/Herz
Unknown ----------------- 0 ------------------- n/a
Unique ------------------ 1 ------------------- n/a
R-10 ------------ Impossible 2-3 ------- Extremely Rare 1-10
R-9 ---------- Exceedingly Rare 4-7 ------- Rare R9 10-25
R-8 -----------Extremely Rare 8-15 -------- Rare R8 25-40
R-7 ------------ Very Rare 16-30 ---------- Rare R7 40-50
R-6 --------------- RARE 31-75 ---------- Scarce R6 100-200
R-5 ----------- Very Scarce 76-150 ------ Scarce R5 200-300
R-4 ------------- Scarce 151-350 -------- Common R4 300-500
R-3 ---------- Fairly Common 351-750 ---- Common R3 500-1000
R-2 ------------- Common 751-2000 ------- Common R2 1000-2000
R-1 ---------- Extremely Common 2000+ --- Extremely Common 2000+

Notice that both are based solely on supply, without consideration of demand. This would allow a PRECISE definition of what constitutes RARE (or any other term you care to choose). If demand plays a part in determining rarity, then "rare" is ALWAYS going to be a subjective term, impossible to define with any degree of precision.

Thus, while I appreciate your desire to differentiate "small quantity + large demand" from "small quantity + small demand", I don't think the rare/scarce/common terminology works for that purpose. And I do think we already have a scale which does what you want (and, to some extent, takes "condition" into consideration, as well) --- it's called "value" or, more to the point, "selling price"! <g>

I like this discussion!! ----- jim o\-S