... on the club message board, but many viewers decided not to voice their opinions regarding the term 'rare' at the risk of being ripped apart in public... so they just remain silent.

I would think if we applied the term 'rare' within our community, only... such as what is rare within the hands of collectors, I think most would agree that no matter how many of a certain issue is kept out of the hands of collectors that any 1 example (or even several) of that issue is considered rare within the collector community... An example being the Paris Las Vegas jetons and plaques which many believe are sitting somewhere collecting dust and considered rare items in the hands of collectors. The same could be said about the Aruba material Bob Ginsburg (FL) reported seeing in storage piled up to the ceiling... But for someone to say "I have 1000 rare chips that I'm willing to sell to one person" should not be considered as 1000 rare chips...

JB