World's Columbian Journal

Quality vs Rarity vs Good Old Fashioned Logic

I’ve talked about the criteria for making purchases, and it’s the same for most anything, including Columbiana.

QUALITY: I believe that history bears out my personal desire for quality above all else. Simply, I would rather have a gorgeous prooflike R2 medal than a worn or damaged R8. I know that some (very few) collectors would disagree and that rarity is paramount for them. It’s a matter of personal preference. If, however, you’re looking for which will yield the better financial results, historical data supports the theory that superb appearance/grade will outperform rarities in poor condition, just about every time.

There will always be a few contradictory results, but they’re clearly in the minority. I

RARITY: Just a good definition of the term helps clarify this potential conundrum for collectors considering an acquisition. Again, as I’ve been redundant on this topic—I am not exaggerating when I say that a solid 90% of Columbian (and other) medals listed as RARE on Ebay are absolutely not, and often they’re not even scarce.

If you know that in the next 6 months or so you’ll have the opportunity to purchase another example of this “rare” medal, then it isn’t rare; it’s scarce. Select any of the slightly different rarity scales. An R9 or an R10 is rare; an R6 or 7 is NOT; it’s scarce.

One issue in the mislabeling of Columbian medals as rare is simple ignorance rather than intentionally mislabeling a WCE medal. There seems to be a pervasive belief among sellers (primarily the inexperienced or uneducated) that all Columbiana is rare! I find it sadly humorous when you look at what’s posted on Ebay in a given week and you see 5 or even 10 examples of the EXACT medal for sale…and sellers note with apparent naivete that these are rarities.

No one should label something rare just because they haven’t seen it before in their limited experience. I recall painfully purchasing a substantial number of WCE items—primarily medals and tickets—at a 1980s auction when I was relatively inexperienced.

I always maintain information on prices realized for Columbiana, and not just those I purchased or bid on unsuccessfully.

The advent of the Internet and Ebay radically changed our perception and understanding about what was rare. Going back to this experience in the ’80s, I was excited to see a mail bid catalog overflowing with Columbiana. Most catalogs then were perhaps only a notch above a poor photocopy, with production literally a cut-and-paste operation of photos; but weak photos were dramatically better than none at all. I had enough knowledge at that time to be able to bid confidently. I won about 2/3 of the 60 or so lots I bid on. I spent well over $1,000, a very substantial amount of money at the time, at least on my budget. If you do the simple math, I spent $25+ per item…as low as $15 for some, as much as more than $50 for others.

You might ask, considering my success, what problem did my lack of knowledge cause? My failure was not with items on which I bid, but rather on the ones I ignored.

Looking back nearly 35 years ago, most of the items I purchased were not uncommon and might have doubled or tripled over the years.

But those rarities I knew nothing about and passed on, increased in value many times more than those I won. Scarce/rare items virtually ALWAYS increase at a substantially greater rate than common one.

If you always purchase quality, you’re off to a good start. If you can buy quality AND rarity even better.

Following are examples of items NOT to buy that were listed this week on Ebay.