US First Issue Revenues - Value Added For Handstamp Cancels

Since supply and demand are linked, demand is relative to scarcity. If there are 10 known examples but only 5 people want it, it's not scarce. Despite there only being 10 known. Only if demand goes up past 10 does it become scarce.

I agree with Bart, and bank cancels are a good example.

Sorry, but scarce is a supply word, not a supply relative to demand word.

It's both, they are related. You can't have one without the other. Something can only be scarce if there is enough demand to create that scarcity. Without demand it doesn't matter how many exist.

You're both correct.

An item might be scarce even though the population is high because everyone wants one and the supply can't keep up with demand, or it might be scarce simply because the population is tiny, regardless of whether anyone wants one or not.

"Valuable", on the other hand, more directly ties supply to demand, IMO.

An item cannot be scarce if no one wants it.

Sure it can. If no one cared about or wanted the British Guiana 1c magenta, it still would be scarce (well actually rare or "unique" but you get my point) based solely upon population.

If I were to collect "Simon de Visser SdeV cancels only in blue ink only on the 30c Foreign Entry and only dated during the month of June", likely a focus that no one else were likely to have, those would still be scarce regardless of demand.

Scarcity and demand do not NECESSARILY go hand in hand. They can, but do not have to.

Most of the revenue bisect usages are SCARCE. They are not VALUABLE in direct correlation to their population numbers due to lack of DEMAND. The lack of demand does not prevent them from being scarce.

Scarcity only exists because someone cares enough to notice that there is only one. Or 10. Or 100. If no one cares enough to notice then there is no scarcity simply because NO ONE CARES. Scarcity does not exist in a vacuum just as a quantity, but as part of an equal and opposite equation named "supply and demand".

Sorry. Disagree.

That's fine, but if no one had any interest in collecting stamps none would have value and all would be equally common or equally scarce. Because no one would know or care.

Ok now, that's an existential argument along the lines of "If a tree falls in a forest..."

What would be the opposite of scarce? Plentiful? Does the meaning of plentiful change depending upon demand?

It might, depending on the quantity required to be considered "plentiful". For example, I consider C13-C15 and C18 to be plentiful but many collectors think they are scarce because of the catalog values. They are very popular, but anyone who wants them has lots of choices for all of them every day.

This discussion is exactly why I vacillated on adding a 'rarity' or 'scarce' field in the database. It seems that many folks have different perspectives on what they think it would represent. My own perspective is that it is quantitatively related and stands independent from demand. So if a stamp has only 3 known existing examples, but only one person in the world wants it, it is still considered 'rare'. But I understand why others might disagree with this perspective.
Don
APS #094826

The issue is that "scarcity" can have two different meanings, both of which are represented here. One is the straight dictionary definition and strictly relates to quantity (Dan); the other is used in economic theory and has to do with the lack of sufficient resources, which necessarily assumes there is a demand for those resources (Bart).