[Box-Cards]

I agree: Supply and rarity in the long run trumps demand over marketing in general. I also believe that down the road and further into the future this may also depend on which era the rarity originated. Late 1800s, early 1900s, and most pre-war rarities are one thing, today's contemporary card companies' marketing attempts at producing "manufactured rarity" by creating the exact same card single in a 1/1 "Gold" version, (/125) in Silver, (/25) in Blue, and (/10) in a Red version, or however they wish to number and designate them, is on a totally different plane than what the hobby used to think of when contemplating something's rarity. "Manufactured rarity" may or may not have been what Jim had in the back of his mind in eluding to value being connected to marketing. Regardless, in today's hobby it seems to have some affect on collectors when one sees what they're willing to bid on them in auction at different times. I'm not a fan of manufactured rarity myself--unless the specific "rarest" version in the series had something extremely special and unique incorporated into it that its other, higher run versions did not. Leaf's move to embed "Everlast" Logo swatches as the relics used ONLY in most or some of the Gold (1/1) Versions of their 2012 Ali Metal's Event Worn series--is an example of what I do find acceptable for "manufactured rarity." Yet they didn't do that in their first Ali-related set release... all their earlier ones with Everlast-Logo swatches were not of the Gold (1/1) version but in the Silver (/20) and some (/60) Bronzes. Manufactured Rarity nevertheless seems to be the dish-of-the-day now across most of the sports card industry.

How do you others feel about those "manufactured rarities" of today?

A note to Jim: Ali "Bootlickers" is offensive, since my post and opinions on some of his cards was just before that statement. If you had a chance to read my earlier posts elsewhere about needing an Ali Panini Valida Back, it offered that my long standing, favorite fighter happened to be Jack Dempsey, and I had completed a Global Card Review on Dempsey's issues first that was rejected by book publishers as not having a big enough audience; their suggesting doing one on Ali instead--so I've been working on that ever since. Deep in the middle of the Ali project as I am, I thought to share with others some of what was known or had been discovered while doing it as well as my opinion of which ones I liked best. A lot of people don't like Ali for various reasons, some mentioned, and that's anybody's right. Still, it is obvious that a whole lot more people around the world undeniably do. I don't dislike anyone based on whether or not they do or don't like him. I always listen and give everyone an equal opportunity to express personal opinions, pro-or-con, as to why without putting them down for it.

Myself, I've been collecting boxing for a long time, too, starting when I first was discharged from the Marines in 1970, Vietnam Era, due to service-connected medical injuries. I started to include collecting Ali's cards around the late 1980s, and I think I was already pretty much "grown up" by then. Even as far as the military goes, I was the type of person who held nothing against anybody else who opposed or didn't want to serve during my same period. I saw it as a personal choice that I personally made in enlisting in the Marine Airwing following a time in university studies, and I held nothing personal against anybody who didn't personally want to do the same thing; privately, I was opposed to the draft as well and believed only those who wanted to serve were the ones I wanted by my side as I served. I never put anyone down or insulted them for not wanting to, including Ali. Whether you do or do not like or collect Ali, it certainly shouldn't be any basis to put anybody else who may feel differently down for doing so. It's a free world.