[Milsurplus] Re: Stinson Scale

[WA5CAB at cs.com]

In a message dated 12/3/2008 6:05:05 AM Central Standard Time, 
arc5 at ix.netcom.com writes: 
> >We have Hertz, Amperes, and Volts. How about a unit of
> >scarcity, in Stinson units? Or call it the "Stinson Scale",
> 
> ACK!  Thank you for your kindness, Hue, but I'm really serious
> about the community needing a definition of what's easy to 
> collect and what's not.  If I named the system after myself,
> it just becomes a joke in most people's eyes.

Well, if it's to be remembered, it needs a name, and a short one.  And ego 
busting though it may be, there are far more people on the planet collecting 
these things who don't know you, me, Hue, etc., than who do.

> 
> >To calibrate the end points, consider a ham-modified 
> >BC-645: they're available, but no one wants them. That
> >would be zero. A "10" would be Dave's example of "M"
> >A.R.C. sets....
> 
> I think 10 is too many grades.  If we make too many fine
> distinctions, the system becomes arbitrary- subject 
> more to opinion than fact.  The idea of the system is to give
> the collector the information he most wants: how hard am
> I going to have to work to acquire one of these items?
> "Common" means he can find one with a little effort.
> "Scarce" means he's going to have to work at it awhile.
> "Rare" means it will take a long time, and he may never get one.
> "Unique" means there's only one, so if you have it, take special care.
> And "Extinct " is, of course, self-explanitory.
> I don't know how we would make further distinctions
> between those without introducing "haze" into the system.

But I still believe that there needs to be a grade between Common and Scarce. 
 Common can, may or does imply that if you want one, all you need to do is 
spend a few minutes looking around in order to find one to buy.  Scarce doesn't 
distinguish between the case where there are quite a few around but none are 
for sale and the case where there aren't many survivors and they aren't for 
sale.  I would for example put the FM-41 Frame in the first category and the ATB 
in the second.  Throwing money at it is far more likely to result in an 
acquisition in the first case than in the second.  But right now I can't come up 
with a good name.

I am inclined to say that a named list is probably more likely to have the 
grading criteria remembered accurately than is a numbered list.  

Robert Downs - Houston
wa5cab dot com (Web Store)
MVPA 9480
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