A chance-for-bragging thread and I'm not in it? How's that possible?
You have got a point here. And I second your doubt. The perception of rareness seems to be a bit of a personal matter.Blueandwhite wrote:A quick question. Are all of the elements discussed really rare, or is it that some of them are simply in high demand? Afterall, the pitchfork was available in several sets. Heck, I've got four of them (one broken). I know that this item is popular, but I am skeptical when it comes to the actual rarity of that brick.
I for example got two sets Maiden's Cart 6023 for my birthday in 1986, so I never thought the white maiden hat was that rare - because I had two of them, and that was one more than I had of the red maiden hats than.
Also there are different perceptions of what items are rare depending on the regions people live in. The infamous grey chest for example only came in a set (Black Knight's Treasure 6011) that wasn't broughtly available in the US. Naturally that leads to this chest to be rare in America. In Europe, though (well, I can only speak for Germany), this set was sold everywhere, so it is not that big a problem to find grey chests on flea markets and the like. I bet, most people my age who got this set when they were children wouldn't even consider this grey chest to be a rare item because it feels natural for them to own one. Or even more than one, because such small sets like this you often get multiples of for birthdays from several relatives...
In reverse there are sets that weren't available in Europe, such like Forestmen's Crossing 6071, containing the Maid Marian with the green hat rag. So in Europe certainly this figure and the river baseplate are rare items.
As for rarity in general: There certainly are some pieces that come in very few or maybe just one set. However, an unique piece that comes in a $4-Set is probably less rare than an unique piece that comes in a $60-set, because the smaller sets are produced in bigger quantities and purchased more often.
And age is a factor. Time kills LEGO. An example again: Actually the visors from the yellow castle era cannot be rare. The Castle 375 and the Tournament 383 were sold many many times. And these visors even came in dublicates in these sets, at least in the Castle, I don't know if this applies for the Tournament as well, but most likely it does. Yet those visors are considererd rare now. Probably because the total number of existing visors has reduced through the years. Many are lost in vacuum cleaners, many have gotten destroyed, deliberately or unintendedly. There are several yellow Castles on eBay every day but only the lesser portion of them comes with all four visors (intact). So many people just need one or more visors to complete their Castle sets. Others just want some of these visiors for their pleasure of owning them and equipping a knight. So there is a constant demand on these pieces, one gets the impression they are rare, and the prices stay high. And of course, who didn't live when such pieces were available on retail must think they are rare, simply because they don't own any.
Agreed again. Of course such items are somewhat "rare", because you never get a chance of obtaining any by purchasing any sets, as many as you may buy. But these peculiarly coloured pieces are rather "special" than "rare". As long as you happen to know they exist you simply step into bricklink and buy them. They ain't even that expensive. It's funny that specially coloured elements that never existed in any sets are less expensive than widely known rare and sought-after pieces like black 2x2 windows from the grey 12V Train era or some of the Castle pieces mentioned within this thread. And I'm glad they are, because I buy stuff like this for its usefulness and not because it's rare and precious.blueandwhite wrote:I suppose the real question is whether we are talking about rare released or rare unreleased bricks, as there is a significant difference. Parts like the black beard, green goblet and green bandana should probably be treated differently than rare parts which are simply hard to find.
Bye
Jojo
). However, one of the four seemed to be damaged at the nether rim, so I traded one of mine for that. You can see it in the picture, the right one has a triangled gap at the lower egde. It doesn't, however, look as if it was cut out but rather as if the material was never sprayed in. And that's the second hint, besided the location"Berlin", for the explanation. - Later on we learned that in Berlin there was a factory that produced molds for LEGO. So these red ghosts most likely were made for testing purposes before the regular glow-in-the-dark ghosts got into production in 1989/1990.
this slope in light grey was only available in one set (Rock Island Refuge). Its still quite hard to find, and fetches quite a premium on bricklink, yet most fans overlook it completely. I guess that only makes sense, as the castle theme is very minifig-driven. Still, other rare bricks need some love.
