We all know that NFTs are prized for their uniqueness, but some NFTs such as CryptoPunk #5822, Ringers #109 from the Art Blocks collection, or Bored Ape #8817 stood out from the rest in their collection. Why you might wonder? Because if rare is expensive and super-rare is precious.

Although these NFTs were a part of a collection they compared favorably to others as they were sold at a premium. CryptoPunk #5822 sold for 8,000 ETH (approximately USD 23.7 million) in February 2022, Ringers #109 from the Art Blocks collection was sold for 2100 ETH (approximately USD 7.12 million) and Bored Ape #8817 by Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT of was sold for 852.39 ETH (approximately USD 3.4 million).

What makes them so unique and valuable? Distinguishing them from other NFTs in the collections. Let's take a look and see what we can find out.

All of the above-mentioned NFTs are examples of super-rare NFTs. They are unusual, one-of-a-kind, and expensive. But aren't all NFTs one-of-a-kind? This leads to the question, what defines a super-rare NFT and how to recognize one?

What are super-rare NFTs?

If an NFT's attributes are rare and exceptional it is classified as "super-rare" in a collection. Simply put, this NFT is unlike any other in the collection because of its rare traits, which makes it stand out from the rest. On average, a 10K NFT collection may contain 0.1-0.2 % super-rares. The lower the number, the higher the rarity rating.

How to identify super-rare NFTs?

The rarity of an NFT can be used to establish whether it is typical, unusual, or super-rare.

Rarity describes how limited a certain NFT, is in concern to the characteristics of the elements in the collection. Certain characteristics and attributes are rarer in a certain NFT collection than others, which are determined based on rarity levels. The rarity of an NFT is critical in determining its value therefore understanding how it is calculated is always beneficial.

There are four different ways to calculate the NFT rarity level

• Trait-based Rarity
• Average Trait Rarity
• Statistical Rarity
• Scoring Rarity

Trait-based Rarity 

NFTs ranked using this method compare the rarest trait of each NFT. The method does not account for the overall rarity of the NFTs. Instead, it only takes into account the rarest trait.

Average Trait Rarity

This method averages the rarity of all traits found on the NFT. It considers the overall rarity of all the traits. However, the super rare traits are undervalued because their rarity is weighed down by the other traits present in the NFT.

Statistical Rarity

In this method, the overall rarity of the NFT is determined by multiplying all of the NFT's traits.

Scoring Rarity

This is one of the most reliable methods for calculating the rarity of an NFT. In this method, the rarity score is calculated as a fraction. That is, the rarity score is the fraction of the number of NFTs with a given trait value divided by the total number of NFTs in the collection.

How to identify super-rare items in a collection?

Identifying the rarity of an NFT is part of thoroughly analyzing these digital assets before investing in them. As super-rare NFTs are more valuable than other NFTs in a collection, being familiar with the rarity level of each NFT helps.

However, finding a rare NFT among thousands of NFTs in a collection is difficult. This is where rarity tools come into play. These tools make it easier to find the rarity ranks and rarity scores of NFTs in any collection.

Top NFT Rarity tools

These tools help identify the rarity of an NFT in a collection. In the process, the super-rares in the collection can also be identified.

Rarity.tools

Rarity.tools is a website that rates and ranks NFT rarity. The rarity scores calculated are specific to NFT collections, that is, they relate to a particular project. The website provides ranking scores for traits, rarity scores, rankings of NFTs, and their estimated value.

RankNFT

Apart from a website, RankNFT also has a Chrome Extension of their tool. The website provides NFT rarity scores and rankings for items published on popular marketplaces.

Rarity Sniper

Rarity Sniper has over 600 projects listed on the website. Rarity Sniper uses a method called “Trait Normalization” to rank NFTs, Traits that appear rarely have a higher score than commonly appearing traits. The trait scores are added up to find a final rarity score according to which the NFTs are ranked.

Rarity Sniffer

Rarity Sniffer focuses only on NFTs created on the Ethereum blockchain. The website provided NFT rarity ranks, most recent collections, NFT drops, and upcoming NFT projects. There are over 10,000 collections listed on Rarity Sniffer. Additional analysis on rare NFTs is available on their Discord Server.

Trait Sniper

Trait Sniper provides the rarity Score, rarity rank, and offer prices from various NFT marketplaces. It also contains information on individual traits of an NFT with their corresponding rarity score.

RarityMon

RarityMon supports collections on various networks which include Ethereum, Solana, Binance, Polygon, and Cardano. It shows the rarity of each attribute and where it is ranked in the NFT collection.

HowRare

HowRare has 255 Solana NFT collections listed on its website. It shows the rarity rank, rarity score, and attribute details of an NFT along with information such as the number of items and holders, the sale status of the NFT, and the basis of floor price. The website also allows the users to search for the rarity of an NFT by asset ID.

Traits and rarity are one of the most important aspects of an NFT or NFT collection, equally important for both creators and collectors. The allure of super–rares for an artist while working on an NFT collection is that there is a market for them, and for collectors, it is important to know that once the super-rares are sold out, they will never be produced again.

Bandit, is a community-driven decentralized Initial NFT Offering (INO) platform where creators can share their NFT collections with a wider Web3 community.