[Milsurplus] What Is "Rare?

[William Donzelli]

First off, I should say I never thought I would get so much mileage out of 
a joke. A funny. A haha.

> This definition isn't satisfactory in the context of collectibles,
> because it isn't complete; it considers only the number 
> of an item in existence.  We need to place weight 
> on demand and, more important, availability.

Frankly, I don't accept the definition of "rare" being anything other 
that a population count. How many exist, with the only variance 
being in the original supply - in other words, how well did the original 
population survive. In these terms, the RATs (and RAT-1s) are a real 
oddball. Some have found that a good rule of thumb in the collectables 
and technical artifacts arena is that 1 or 2 percent of anything survives 
in some form. If you think about it, this actually worls quite well when 
the original production runs are known, compared to the number of 
survivors. The RATs *really* blow the 2 percent.

If you include availability into the equation, things get funny. If a RAT 
comes up on Ebay (the most likely place), it will be "available" for 7 or 
10 days, and probably really only be a contest between four or five guys 
(those willing to spend - I am sue many would want a RAT, but how many 
would shell out $500 plus for one?). Once the auction ends, does it not 
count? The known population has gone up, however.

Also, most of those with RATs today will probably not be buried with 
them. Most will become available again and again, until destroyed or put 
into a trust (museum). Some of the best collections around are breaking 
up (Muchow being the biggest I think), and the stuff is recycling into 
new hands. Cetainly some of the "RAT recycles" will happen in our lifetimes. 

> The advent of Ebay has brought many sets
> out of dusty barns and saved others from the dump,
> but in the seven years Ebay has been going, has an RAT
> ever been auctioned?

A spares kit. Also, didn't Link auction an RAV?

William Donzelli
aw288@osfn.org