Rarity versus Scarcity in Numismatics 1 1

[Henri Charriere]

The impetus for this Topic was the member whose name, the mere utterance of which is explicitly prohibited by Chat Board Guidelines, means the "just" and "righteous" one.  To him, provenance and pedigree may be used interchangeably as can rarity and scarcity. I respectfully disagree and rather than become an intimidating bully, I would prefer to be a coward and pick up a dictionary and consult the web.  As I do not believe in being forced-fed, I will leave it to you, gentle reader, to decide what applies -- and what flies...

What is the difference between scarcity and rarity?  The key difference in the two words lies in the "demand" for a particular thing.  When we say 'rare,' it usually means that the object is valuable but not a necessity, and hence not in demand.  However 'scarce' indicates that the object is not available in sufficient quantity to meet its demand.

if there is a shortage in the supply of a particular thing, 'scarce' is the right word to use.  When a particular thing is not ordinary or uncommon, use 'rare.'

Scarcity in numismatics is a measure of how many of a specific were minted and how many survived.

Scarcity is about demand while rarity is about supply, more or less.

Rare coins are rare because there are only a few of them.  FIVE of 'em, FOUR of 'em, maybe TEN of 'em.  You know, just a few.

Scarce coins can have known examples of maybe as many as some HUNDREDS or maybe even a THOUSAND coins that are known.  Those would be scarce.

A scarce coin is -- if you have the money -- you would have to search your brains out to find it.

A rare coin is -- if you have the money you still can't buy it because it's just not there to be bought.

Note:  In light of the stand-alone definition, as set forth directly above, I am resigned to the fact that the #1 coin I seek -- the 1900 French 20-francs gold rooster -- is RARE &  SCARCE. PCGS certified two (2) in MS-64, two (2) more in MS-65.  To my knowledge, no example has been certified as MS-66 or MS-67 by either upper-tier grading service.

To sum up:  RARE and SCARCE are two words with two seemingly indistinguishable meanngs. They cannot be used correctly, interchangeably.

 

[RWB]

Provenance and pedigree are not the same thing. The two words are not synonyms. The first is a list of owners or possessors; the second is a breeding or reproductive line.

Rare and scarce are synonyms but not necessarily close. Scarce commonly refers to "limited availability, or quantity" but rare has meanings extending beyond this in subtly of meaning.

Coin collectors - accustomed to bean counting - try to use rare as meaning fewer than scarce, and sometimes quantify the two words.

[VKurtB]

“Danger, danger Will Robinson!” Henri is turning to dictionary definitions. That is a highly dangerous thing in numismatics. This hobby has a really long history of just plain “stoopid” vocabulary and definitions that are unlike those used anywhere else or in plain language. 

[powermad5000]

IMHO, a rare coin is one that has an extremely low mintage, hence the 1-8 rarity (R) scale. Not many coins made in the first place.

Scarcity can mean different things depending on the context.

A coin could be considered as scarce because there are only so few known survivors from the original pool of many that were minted. Hypothetical example : an old copper had a mintage number of 450,000 but due to its age and circumstances (100,000 lost in a shipwreck and never recovered, many lost on land and never recovered and succumbed to corrosion, others melted down for their metal content, etc.) and it is believed that maybe only a few hundred are left surviving, those could be called scarce.

Another example of using the term scarce can be in grade assessments. The 1884 S Morgan Dollar has a rather high mintage number of 3,200,000. But it is scarce in MS grades with not many at all grading above AU 58, only 2 graded at MS 65 and only one graded at MS 66 (NGC census only). None at MS 67 or higher. All of these pieces were released into circulation so there are not many in choice or gem BU, hence they are scarce in MS grades but plentiful in circulated grades.

Condensed, rare = not many made. Scarce = many made but hard to find.

[EarlyUS.com]

Numismatics is a field unto itself, and as a result, jargon has developed over time.  This is an extremely common and expected occurrence for any well-established field of study.

Jargon has little choice other than to borrow words in general usage and re-define them for use within that field.  Therefore, I have no problem at all with "rare" and "scarce" having their own nuance of definition. within the area of numismatics, even if those words would now have new meaning compared to their general usage.

I feel like "key" is a valuable word in our field.  The 1916-D dime is not rare, it is not scarce, and it isn't even "elusive" nor "difficult".  However, it is undeniably "key" to the series as any collector would understand  it.