What's the rarest dinosaur in your collection?

[amargasaurus cazaui]

Doug you miss the most obvious thing of all...your rarest most valuable collectible dinosaurs would be your own master sculpts that you have saved all of over the years. They would be worth a small fortune compared to these other things you are posting...for real

Blushes with false modesty
I think I have to die first.

I dont think so Doug, you might never part with them, but they are more valuable than anything else you have posted. They are just like any of those other figures you will never sell either, except you made these, they are one of a kind and the proofs that only exist in your collection. Value isnt requisite of being sold, something can be quite valuable and never sold. I always say my collection is worthless because I will die with it...meaning its worthless to me, in cash terms. yet we both know I could sell it for a considerable sum more than likely if I chose...so there it is.

[Shonisaurus]

My most difficult to find dinosaurs were Mamenchisaurus China Dinosaur Safari, which got me in a second hand store my city.

On the other other hand find it cost me a lot was the opthalmosaurus of Walking with Dinosaurs, which had to make my first bank transfer for that product, it was practically exhausted.

Moreover, in a flea market in my town, particularly in an exhibition of buying and selling fossils, minerals and insects, I found the Lambeosaurus brown Invicta to me precious and no less beautiful baryonyx of the same brand mint green .

Moreover in my store I got life in extremis of Bullyland Pachycephalosaurus second version because the first had to unfortunately discontinued, and within months the same second version would be exhausted and descatagolaría.

[stargatedalek]

I don't have any particularly rare pieces in my collection, but I do have a few of considerable cost.

The first to come to mind being the JPTLW bull rex, JPS1 command center, and WoWee(?) robo-raptor.

[Ikessauro]

I like rarities and try to hunt down the ones I like the most. So far a few of my hardest and more expensive to get were a few of the Original Battats, including Diplodocus and Mini T.rex. Also have the Papo Brown Running T.rex, this one was sent from France, arrived in Brazil, then was lost, sent to Japan!!!, returned to the sender and finally was sent again to me and arrived safelly. Almost didn't get it.

I have the original brown Papo Raptor too, Invicta Lambeosaurus, WWD Toyway collection (minus Ornithocheirus of course). Besides those I have a few hard to find Favorite variants, Safari Missing links collection among others. I guess I got excited here, I'll stop.

[darth daniel]

Mine would have to be the 1:40 Puertasaurus that I sculpted myself, I guess one-off figures are quite rare...

But if only toys count, my rarest ones might be the Battat Amargasaurus and Carnegie Deinonychus trio, small Dimetrodon and Protoceratops nest.

[DinoLord]

Ikessauro's post reminded me I also got a mini Battat T. rex recently. Someone had listed it on eBay, correctly labeled, for only $20. Even though I don't really collect the mini Battats (finding the regular ones was hard enough!), I figured I would never see it again for that sort of price.

[triceratops83]

If I had to guess I'd say the Horizon Chris Darga Triceratops. I've managed to snag a lot of models I don't see too often like the Kaiyodo Dinolands, certain Favorite desktop pieces and I just recently picked up a mini Battat Trike, but I'm not sure how rare they are. Quite a few additions to my collection seem rare to me because I've only seen them once or twice available. Others I might guess at are a John P Fischner Hatchling, the Bob Morales Torosaurus, the Tsukuda Hobbies Triceratops, and the Tudor Mint Trike. I've been pretty thorough with my Triceratops collection and count myself lucky to have picked up a lot of what I have. At great expense of course

[postsaurischian]

My rarest figure is a Shapeways 1:144 rearing Diplodocus by David Krentz. Only two do exist. I was at the right place in the right moment.
David designed this one as a pesent for a friend and sent it to Shapeways to let them print it in silver. This was only possible offering the model for a short period of time on the Shapeways homepage, which was exactly when I stopped by looking for what's new .

[Dinoguy2]

I'm not actually sure how to tell what's rare and what's not, but based on what other people are posting, I have some rarities, like the original Invicta Lambeosaurus and Baryonyx, the Carnegie Deinonychus, and some of the original Battats, my favorite of which is the version 1 T. rex (from what I've seen of versions 2 and 3, I much prefer the skull of v. 1, plus the fact it doesn't have those "snowshoes"! Yeah it doesn't stand but there are easy ways to strategically wedge its tail against something to get it to balance).

I've also got some of these early Bullyland dinosaurs, though with a different paint job than shown here (Steg is green, T. rex is green/black, Brontosaurus is gray, Dimetrodon beige with a whitish sail).

[Roselaar]

Good question. European variation of the JP Series 2 Carnotaurus? Complete sets of PlayVision Amphibians and Marine Reptiles? Shinzen's Happinet Great Dinosaur T-Rex? Or perhaps that Starlux Cephalaspis? I honestly don't know.

[Halichoeres]

Ah, this thread fills me with envy.

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

I would say my rarest is my Sideshow Stegosaurus since it is a limited edition, but I have a few others which have been mentioned here such as the DOC mamenchisaurus; a few Invictas including the blue whale; a bunch of old Carnegies including the old maiasarua, deinonychus trio; and a Battat amargasaurus, styracosaurus, and edmontonia. I've never really considered any of my hard to find pieces to be exceptionally rare.

[Meso-Cenozoic]

I don't think I have anything that's extremely rare. Most of what I have that I would consider more rare, at least to me, would be discontinued complete sets and individual figures from the '80s and '90s, and all of them are in either new condition or near mint for their age.

Here are some in my collection (I know, not all "dinosaurs") I'm glad I acquired when I did and a few I was lucky enough to find later in like-new condition...

Complete Sets:
Original Battats (minus the minis)
WwD by Toyway (minus the Ornithocheirus, of course )
Dinosaurs of China by Safari Ltd. (BTW, does anyone have an extra plastic fossil background stand for the Mamenchi? That's the only thing I'm missing!)

Individuals:
Some of the older discontinued Schleich's I really like -- Desmatosuchus, Elasmosaurus, Kronosaurus, Shonisaurus
Some of the older discontinued Bullyland's I really like -- Edaphosaursus and Mastodonsaurus (Although there was also a 2012 limited reproduction.)
Most of the original Carnegie figures from the late '80s and early '90s
Some Painted Invictas (I especially love the recent near mint Painted Diplodocus I found!)
Both original paints of Papo's T. rex and Velociraptor
Tamiya Brachiosaurus (I know. This discontinued model is still found on eBay fairly easily, but I finally got one in mint condition and I love it!)
Elasmosaurus by Horizon with simulated ocean waves and wooden base with metal plaque -- solid resin version had a limited production made for store vendors for display samples

[Libraraptor]

Define rare. This is a little sobering, since everytime you think you have something rare it turns out that it´s not so rare at all. I do have an Invicta Lambeosaurus and a Stenonychosaurus, some early Bullylands, Bullyland Procynosuchus and Protochirotherium, the Linde Rhamphorhynchus, Schleich Desmatosuchus and Shonisaurus, a Dinosaur xpo 2009 Mamenchisaurus and Gigantoraptor,  things like that. But they´re all still quite common and easy to acquire, aren´t  they?
Rare in terms of (probably) unique is my Bernd Wolter 1:1 Corythosaurus baby. http://dinotoyblog.com/2012/12/01/corythosaurus-bernd-wolter-design/

[Doug Watson]

Define rare. This is a little sobering, since everytime you think you have something rare it turns out that it´s not so rare at all. I do have an Invicta Lambeosaurus and a Stenonychosaurus, some early Bullylands, Bullyland Procynosuchus and Prochirotherium, the Linde Rhamphorhynchus, Schleich Desmatosuchus and Shonisaurus, a Dinosaur xpo 2009 Mamenchisaurus and Gigantoraptor,  things like that. But they´re all still quite common and easy to acquire, aren´t  they?
Rare in terms of (probably) unique is my Bernd Wolter 1:1 Corythosaurus baby. http://dinotoyblog.com/2012/12/01/corythosaurus-bernd-wolter-design/

To me rare is something valued by collectors in that area of collecting that rarely comes up for sale and when it does you have to pay through the nose to get it. There are obvious items that are old and even though they were produced in large numbers few remain and often the few that remain are in the hands of collectors. Then you have items of quality that were produced in low numbers and the limited number makes them rare. However you could have something that is one of one but if the only person that thinks it is worth buying is the original producer then you can hardly call it rare. Also rarity is relative when you talk location, the Invicta Lambeosaurus is probably common in the UK but in the USA and Canada where it wasn't sold it would be considered rare especially if the only way to get one is to outbid another collector on eBay.
SRGs are collectible because of their place in toy dinosaur history but not really rare because they were sold in large numbers like the T rex and show up often. My SRG Dinichthys is considered rare because of its age and  because it is thought to be an AMNH exclusive at the time and weren't produced in large numbers. That and the fact maybe one a year comes up for sale on eBay if you are lucky and when they do they sell for big numbers.
To me right now the rarest piece for me that I don't have is a Kaiyodo 1/100 Dinoland Velociraptor. It was probably made in fairly large numbers but if they are still out there they are still in the hands of the original buyers or collectors like me and don't come up for sale so that makes it rare for me until those kids grow up and start letting them go at garage sales  then maybe they won't be rare anymore.

[Kayakasaurus]

The rarest Dino I have is the Invicta triceratops. Although I got it from Goodwill, so it can't be that rare, a little surprising though since they weren't sold in the states. Now that I think about it... My Shunosaurus is pretty rare, considering there are only three in existence, but it's not officially out yet, so it doesn't really count.

[Doug Watson]

The rarest Dino I have is the Invicta triceratops. Although I got it from Goodwill, so it can't be that rare, a little surprising though since they weren't sold in the states.

As far as I know only the Lambeosaurus and the Dimetrodon by Invicta were UK exclusives all the other monochrome versions including the Triceratops were available in NA. The Stenonychosaurus had a limited run because it was pulled due to litigation.

[amargasaurus cazaui]

The problem here is not differences in rarity it is mistakes in your use of terms. Rare is quite simply based on the number of something that exists period. Rarity can be caused by a huge demand or a lower supply but still remains the total number of an item availible for the audience that might require it. This creates something called percieved rarity because something made in large numbers can appear rare once all the existing samples are nested in collections and do not come to market that often.
     The missing word or term here is "collectible" ......some things may have a very limited run of production but may also not be that collectible and so the price remains quite flat. A simple illustration of this something that occurred for me in my comic collecting. I owned a comic that was listed as rare in the Overstreet price guide, meaning there are a total of ten to twenty copies known to exist in the world. If you find a super hero genera book that contains characters like Batman or perhaps Hulk in that type of comic it would by demand be worth many thousand if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, because there is a smal supply and yet a large demand. My collectible was a character called Katy Keene from the Archie universe, and is not that high in demand...so the book , despite being exceptionally rare, remains below five hundred dollars twenty years after I purchased it. It is still considered rare and always will be...but collectible is another concept . Price has nothing to do with rarity either....price is ultimately determined by many factors.....number availible, demand, market perceptions and often as price increases occurr, wether there exists a demand above a certain price point for something. Doug is correct in stating you may own something that is one of a kind in the entire world, but if there exists no demand, it does not gain in value. However it is still rare....and price does not determine rarity, nor does collectibility. The question here as posed was which is most rare...had it stated most rare, and most high priced or most high in demand my own answers might be different. This is also why I told Doug his rarest pieces are his own prototype masters, they are in fact one of  a kind and by the term rare are then by nature his in fact rarest pieces.

[Gwangi]

I don't think I have anything I would call rare but I have a few retired, museum exclusive and limited release figures that are certainly harder to find. Offhand I can think of the Bullyland Procynosuchus and Prochirotherium (thanks Libra!) and a few other older Bullyland like the Apatosaurus, Deinonychus, Batrachotomus and Paratypothorax. The Favorite/Kinto Tamba sauropod, an exclusive for the Museum of Nature and Human Activities in Japan is probably my rarest piece. The Kabaya Seismosaurus and Schliech Kronosaurus are hard to find as well. Generally I don't go looking for rare pieces, my collection is quite modest and I try to keep it cheap. I just get them as they become available as I can.

[TJ_Terrorsaur]

I don't know if they're rare since they tend to pop up on eBay from time to time, but I think the 'rarest' figure(s) in my collection would either be my working TLW JP Bull, or my working Chaos Effect Omega Bull.