i don't get all the hysteria over the "dark" marlins. ooh, a lever action with a paint job.
if there's any logic, it's that marlin in the last few years up to remington's bankruptcy didn't seem to be putting out the models that people wanted in any sort of numbers.
as for the falling block thing, i think that's partly collector driven, partly lack of production. i'm not sure what winchester/browning/miroku put out a year, but ruger made the no.1 into a limited edition/limited caliber per year gun, then jacked the prices way up. used to be most bigger gun shops had a few on the rack, that seems to have dried up now and i rarely ever see them any more. cabela's in lacey usually had a whole display case of them in the gun library, nothing now. guys that own no. 1's usually seem to have several.