How would you define rare ?

[rdpla]

I`m fairly new to the collecting scene so hoping someone could share some light on something for me...

So, Its safe to say tens of thousands of lukes/darths /bobas etc were made
The lesser known characters maybe thousands only..
Apart from a few cases I think that rings true..?

Bit hard to base on the 12 backs...so from 21 back plus..like for like..
I always assumed the fewer of something, the rarer an item, the higher the value. So why is it with star wars carded figures, the darths and the likes sell for silly money and the lesser loved characters ( on same number back)which probably only had a small % made compared to the darths etc go for far less..

Any thoughts?

Rob

 

[edd_jedi]

Most things are nowhere near as rare as people think. There were actually tens of millions of these things made, so your estimate of tens of thousands is probably true for the "rare" figures like Vinyl Cape Jawa and Blue Snaggletooth. Mass production is not cheap, they would not have only made hundreds or low thousands of any figures. There were likely millions of the long run figures made such as Vader and Stormtrooper.

Unfortunately most people think that if there's not one for sale on eBay right now then it's rare, but the truth is all but the ultra rare are easily obtainable with a bit of patience. I think there are about 70 odd confirmed rocket firing Fetts these days, so getting your hands on one of those wouldn't be impossible.

 

[steve obi wan]

To make a figure rare is a low production run . As Edd says most things not that rare . However the VCJ was only done for a short run and very limited distribution . Hence less produced and less sold . The issue is also when the figure was bought no one though then let's keep it on the package and not let the kid play with it , so it's only a very small % survived on the card .

So it's rare in terms of the other SW 12 backs , hence rare and very expensive

I remember back in the 1970's looking for Greedo and even then it wars very hard to get on a SW Palitoy card .

 

[jayums]

So, Its safe to say tens of thousands of lukes/darths /bobas etc were made

Tens of millions more like. Estimated 300-400 million figures were bought and sold, let alone produced.

 

[poncho]

for a production loose figure that made into stores

id break down rare as the following

Availabilty (i.e how many were made)
Importance (1st wave before change i.e.Vcj, dt saber figures)
Physical differences ( uniqe paint apps/ sculpt)
And condition.

Examples of the all the above

vcj (importance/availability/condition)
Luke vader ben dt (ditto)
Luke farm boy orange hair (all 4....a recent loose example sold for £1000)

Examples of 3

country variants poch toptoys.......etc (availibilty physical differences being key, condition)

 

[theforceuk]

Donald Trump that's how I define rare.

But seriously what has already been said, that Lilly Ledy Snowspeeder is rare in my eyes and that speeder bike sealed with figures is probably rare.

But then who really knows how many boxed Lilly Ledy Snowspeeders are still around, probably more than 20 so not really rare I spose.

 

[theguiltyone]

Donald Trump that's how I define rare.

But seriously what has already been said, that Lily Lady Snowspeeder is rare in my eyes and that speeder bike sealed with figures is probably rare.
But then who really knows how many boxed Lilly Lady Snowspeeders are still around, probably more than 20 so not really rare I spose.

Most things are out there to be had for sure, the Lily Ledy Snowspeeder, I know of 2 others and that's in a fair few years of watching.
Triple that number for a bumper cushion and you're still talking less than 10 complete boxed examples. Most pieces foreign to Kenner and even Palitoy now are in the "rare" category (Meccano 2nd issue Jawa MOC being the exception).

 

[currymonster6290]

Donald Trump that's how I define rare.

But seriously what has already been said, that Lily Lady Snowspeeder is rare in my eyes and that speeder bike sealed with figures is probably rare.
But then who really knows how many boxed Lilly Lady Snowspeeders are still around, probably more than 20 so not really rare I spose.

Most things are out there to be had for sure, the Lily Ledy Snowspeeder, I know of 2 others and that's in a fair few years of watching.
Triple that number for a bumper cushion and you're still talking less than 10 complete boxed examples. Most pieces foreign to Kenner and even Palitoy now are in the "rare" category (Meccano 2nd issue Jawa MOC being the exception).

I have a boxed ledy snowspeeder so that's one more to the list!

 

[rdpla]

Sorry for not making myself clear..

lets take rotj and tri logos as an example..
darth rotj,, say 300 quid/400 quid and loads of them made
gamorean guard say 50 quid and maybe 1/10th of the number of darths..

but with the tri logo the reverse rings true bucket loads of darths made a fraction of gamoreans made, but now they are the pricier item..
so what im trying to say is, all the obscure characters that you find , that get a few moments of screen time..shouldnt they be classed as rarer..._
everyone wants the lukes and darths amd millions have been madeetc.. who wants the ugnaught or dengars which have no doubt been made in smaller quantities..

just a thought anyway...

Rob

 

[x-pack]

It's funny but if you were collecting 25 years ago things were a lot rarer. Took me a couple of years to find a VCj. Now though (if I want to pay silly money) I could get one within the hour. The magic of the internet :wink:

 

[Cymonguk]

I think you are mistaking two different things here:

1) Value
2) Rarity

Whilst rarity does have an effect on value, value is also affected by desirability. More people would want a Darth Vader than a Gamorrean. Its always about supply and demand, the supply of Darths is probably higher, but the demand is higher still!

There is also the second element, especially with MoCs, that some figures have been found later in bigger amounts from storage

 

[olisuds]

Personally I define rare based on both numbers and making a comparison with other similar items.

A blue snaggletooth or Yak Face isn't rare because of the sheer number and availability of them out there. Even though those numbers are much smaller than other production figures it is still readily available and easy to acquire.

This also works the other way round.

I don't consider Revenge proof cards rare because although there are only about 50 of each character out there, when you compare them to other proof cards, some of which are one of a kind, they are relatively more abundant and not hard to acquire with a bit of patience.

So rarity for me depends a lot on the type of item you are looking at. For proof cards it would be a one or two of a kind unproduced POTF proof card or mock up or 65 back Revenge proof card for example. For a MOC it might be a particular example with less than 5 known. For a loose figure it might be a particular variant with around 10 or less examples known such as a POCH bright green limbs Bossk.

 

[maxf]

If you decide you'd like to buy something and can go out and buy it, that pretty much signifies that it isn't 'rare' - it may be more rare than other things, but frequency of availability is key IMO.

Anything which exists in single digits it rare - more than that just makes it hard to find, popular, or expensive.

 

[Grant_C]

I would class rare as anything under 15-20 examples.

 

[maxf]

Of course the danger of talking in 'examples' (as I did) is that nobody really knows - a few things have been tracked (mainly prototypes) but production items really haven't been tracked at all and there are a lot of private collectors who don't share their photos. Even Tom Derby wouldn't know really, as items get resold under and on the radar.

 

[sith-smith]

I often see the term rare used as a means to demand more money!

I think people also equate rare to not readily available for sale.

For me means that there are very few available in actual existence.

Rare as a description really depends on the context so 'rarely for sale' makes sense for an item that hardly ever comes up for sale but certainly doesn't mean it it's rare in the existence sense.

 

[lejackal]

darth rotj,, say 300 quid/400 quid and loads of them made
Rob

more like £100-150 for ROTJ and £70 -100 for a Trilogo - both easy to pick up pretty much any day of the week