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identify7who acted when card accumulations were being found on walls of gas stations, barns, etc. When was that? The 60s, 70s? That would be less than fifty years ago.
To me it is more conceivable that collectors from that period put away (what were relatively inexpensive) rarities, and are still holding them; than it is to believe that t206s and other issues survived the fifty years prior to the 60s - since until then baseball cards held no collector value.
That is, the potential exists that we are aware of perhaps a large percentage of the cards which exist, but far less than all. And our understanding of the rarities which exist may be substantially skewed.
For example, tomorrow a collector could release six complete near mint sets of e107s. Those of us who are not holding these may like that idea, but current collectors of this set may or may not like it.
Is it unreasonable to conclude that significant rarities are not known the the general collecting community?