Some of the rarities are believed to be somewhat overhyped. They may have been taken off production sheets toward the end of the print run, whereas others maybe earlier. Others like Band-Ache and Mutts don’t repeat enough on sheets so their production was low relative to other titles from the same series. It has been stated before that the timing of new series releases was in part designed to mitigate the exposure to litigation in the face of C&D requests based on whatever the statutory requirements were. For example, if production must stop within 90 days of a request and new series are released every 3 months, compliance is basically a lock. So the impacts of C&Ds on the “rarities” is debatable. It might boil down to increased demand because of the desirability factor, the perception of rarity. Then there are the Big Daddy titles, the Ratz and Cracked Animals die-cuts, and Good n Empty Wacky Ad. These must have been pulled from production very early on, because populations are very low and values run in the 100s to 1,000s.
Then there’s the crazy stuff that’s been reported, like getting a Pupsi from a 10th pack whose checklist had Pupsi removed - what to make of that?
I think most would agree that Run Tony, Spit and Spill variation and Pupsi can be had for lower prices, maybe $25 in decent condition. Others like Choke Wagon, Bum Chex, Grime Dog Food variation seem to start at around $50. And the priciest ones were not necessarily C&D titles. That’s also where the different card backing paper types come into play. Personally though I’ve never been all that interested in the Ludlows, so I can’t offer much by way of specifics.