[Milsurplus] Re: Commonly scarce but normally rare ...

[David Stinson]

Thank you for contributing to the debate, Eric.
We may yet get something workable here.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Eric Jones" <ejones at hiwaay.net>
Subject: [Milsurplus] Commonly scarce but normally rare ...


> Limited Availability - can be found within a year, for a price that won't
> require mortgaging your house (if you can even get credit ...)

Hmmm.... Either it takes work and time to find something
or it doesn't.  The dividing point is "how much work and time."
Is a year's work "common," but two year's "scarce?"
And who's definition of "work?"  To me, "working at it"
means I'm at every fest I can reasonably reach and on Ebay
at least once every few days or more, hunting for an item.
If I'm looking for a "common" ARC-5 dynamotor, I'm going to find one
in 3-4 weeks at the very most.  If I'm searching for an
A.R.C.-marked SCR-274N mounting rack,
I might see one every two or three years.  That's "Scarce."
Things start to look a little "gray"  between those.
Maybe we need to kick this area around some more.

> Rare/Scarce (these are essentially the same)

Not at all.  Remember- the point of the scale is to define the
likelyhood of acquiring an item and the work required to do so.
"Scarce" means you're going to have to work a long time at it,
but it can be done if you persist.
"Rare" means they exist but, no matter how hard you work,
 if you ever do get one, it will be a matter of time and circumstance.
We need a distinction between those things which are just
"difficult" and those which may never fall to us.

> Unique - only one or two known to exist ...

By definition, "Unique" means: "only one."
I think we need this in order to define cases like A.R.C. "M"-marked items
and prototypes.   This gives them a special status and,
one would hope, special protection.  If there are two, then a collector is
going to have to work at it for years and may never get one.
That case is defined under "Rare."

> "Extinct" - All known examples have been lost to posterity; may not even
> still have printed evidence of their existance, but may surface when an OF
> dies ...

In which case, it would go from "Extinct" to "Rare."

>...A milsurp rig that may be common near old
> mil-bases won't be in my armpit of the U........

It's a global world.  If they're "Common" near you, and people
know about them, they're "Common" everywhere.  The scale doesn't
take money into account- only availablity and the work required
to acquire an example.
If a person wants something badly enough, he'll find the money,
if he has to take a second job slinging burgers for a few months.

> ...while some "ultra-rare" Ham rigs
> show up with surprising frequency hereabouts.

By the same logic- if they "show up with surprising frequency"
anywhere that's near a post office, and they belong to an
owner willing to sell and ship them (that's a matter of the right money),
then they cannot be "Rare."

Respectfully,
Dave S.