Thank you for your input, Richard. Of course if an otherwise completely honest dealer misrepresents an item he/she should expect a "little heat", perhaps a friendly email, or even a little good natured ribbing. But, to state that the dealer is trying to "sucker" a potential buyer/bidder is, well...low.

I've been looking at poker chips on eBay this afternoon and you would not believe the number of chips that are described as "rare". One lot is for several hundred RARE chips-an immediate contradiction if I've ever seen one. I disregard the word "rare" and view the lot as I would any other in which I am interested. Let's face facts, eBay is not a forum for the correct historical cataloging of gambling chips. eBay is a forum to sell the chips. eBay item descriptions are...MARKETING, no MORE no LESS.

I have played the game of reporting questionable eBay descriptions to this BB. About a year ago I found an eBay auction for as rack of so called "swastika" chips. Of course we all know the "swastika" was a popular Native American symbol that fell into disuse in the late 1930's with the rise of Nazi Germany. The seller of these chips described them as (and I'm paraphrasing now) a set of poker chips belonging to a Nazi Military Officer captured by an American soldier during WWII. Baloney, right? Sure. So, I made a post on this BB trying to expose the misinformation. The results? I was bushwacked. I was told (again I'm paraphrasing) "Gee, Dave, how do you KNOW the seller's story isn't correct?" I didn't KNOW it in that I could PROVE it, but I was 99.99% sure I was right. I have an exonumia book that has a chapter that describes the use of the "swastika" symbol on U.S. tokens. It is a book written by two of the world's foremost authorities on trade tokens & exonumia. I made an offer to send a photocopy of this chapter to anyone who requests it. I made the offer to send the photocopy at my own expense. Guess what. Yup, I mailed out two. As I recall the were over 100 "views" of my post.

Sure, let's take pot shots at an honest, trustworthy, decent chip dealer. It's easier than getting the facts. It's more fun too!

Dave Smith in NH
"Live Free or Die"