Q. What do you mean by “rare,” exactly? I notice several of your items are marked as “rare.”

A. First of all, please do remember that the term “rare” is a statement of someone’s opinion. So, with that in mind, it is important to note that what might be relatively common to someone experienced in a particular field of collecting, could be “very rare” to the average person on eBay or to someone who does not have access to antique shows, collector’s auctions, etc. Statements like, “It is rare to find an honest person nowadays” are a matter of opinion, and although there were millions of Steel Pennies made in the 1940′s, anyone under the age of 25 would describe them as “rare.”

There is a factual component as well, based on the number of existing copies, circulation, and historical factors. However, even this can be seen as relative, therefore there is no quantifiable degree of “rarity.”