Hi, I am James Taylor, Vice-President of Customer Satisfaction at ICG. We have read almost every post regarding chip slabbing on this and the other board and wanted to respond. Interestingly enough, over 90% of those we spoke with and showed the product to in Las Vegas gave ICG positive feedback (the rest with generally neutral feedback). Were they polite and unwilling to tell us the truth? Is there the same consideration of politeness being shown those of you who oppose slabbing on this board (it may be difficult for some to put there name in print and go against the wishes of the outspoken members of these boards)? I would say "yes" in both cases. The polls certainly do not reflect the "ban" mentality that has been propagated in the messages of some.

To be clear, ICG is not considering grading chips, we are grading chips.

Everyone will decide what they think of slabbing over the next few years. Some will like the services they provide--a specific grade arrived at by objective, third-party graders who are independent of the market, third-party guarantees the item is authentic, in many cases more liquidity and an easier and more objective method for determining the chip's value. Everyone should remember things like easier liquidity and a more objective method for determining value does not necessarily help market insiders, but in fact helps everyone else. I know that there are some people who will say that the grading services ruined coin collecting, but I would venture to say that there are others who would say just the opposite--that the grading services improved coin collecting and increased their comfort level.

When I worked as Education Director for the ANA for 10 years, I heard a lot of criticism about coin grading companies. My response then--and now--was that grading companies may not be for everyone. I think one issue here is respect.

There are different types of collectors. Those who collect:

· obsolete, older chips
· limited edition chips
· only low grade, well-used chips
· only high-end chips
· only chips from casino's they have visited
· chips from a certain city
· Harrah chips from any city
· only chips they acquire while at the casino for face value
· etc, etc, etc.

The point is there are actually thousands of different ways to collect chips and every collector should respect others collecting wishes as any thing else would be arrogance in the purest form (notice I am not calling anyone arrogant, just saying the idea of imposing what you believe is the way someone should collect anything is arrogant). Also please notice we are not being arrogant and saying, "You should collect slabs!", instead we are simply offering a consumer protection service to those who wish to use it. If nobody wants slabs, so be it, we are certainly not going to tell anyone what they want or should do, we are simply offering a service. But if someone does want a slabbed chip, they should be afforded the same freedom to pursue their interest as any of you.

Notice I said we are offering a consumer protection service. ICG will not "change" any chip. The chips do not melt into the slab. Anyone is free to crack them out of our holders. The chips themselves are the only thing anyone will ever be buying or selling. We would never recommend someone buying a chip they are not educated enough to purchase. If someone relies solely on crutches of "dealer trust" and/or crutches of "grading service trust", they will end up with some bad purchases because of there own lack of education.

All collectors will not choose to spend the time to learn everything about what they purchase. Some of you may value the knowledge gained about the chip, as much as the chip itself, others may just want to "own the chip" in a pure need for possessions. Who are any of us to judge either?

There have been a lot of predictions made on this board the last week. Most likely something different than what anyone (pro-slab or anti-slab) has predicted will occur. Please see Presidential election year 2000. I will predict there is someone out there who is currently very comfortable buying chips from his three favorite dealers. He will send in twenty chips to ICG in the next year. He will receive back five chips for excessive cleaning and notice that all five chips came from the same dealer. It will come to pass he will find that half the chips that came from one dealer have been excessively cleaned. This person will be grateful for slabbing as he is now educating himself on excessively cleaned chips. The dealer that sold these may not be dishonest. He may like the excessively cleaned chips or maybe he is unable to tell. Sure, others may find out through dealers or other collectors that they might have made good and bad purchases and some will find out from ICG. In any case the further education of the collector will be the result, maybe he decides he likes excessively cleaned chips.

I noticed someone mentioned on one board they wished they had had some of their $100 plus chips slabbed as they would not have bought a couple. He was immediately told condition was not a factor in pricing. REMEMBER what I said above, condition may not be a factor for you or any of the people in your group, but if it is for even one other person, you should respect that just as they should respect HOW you collect. ICG did not invent condition. If you are at the store buying your wife (or husband) a candle this weekend, most likely you will pass on the one in the front with scratches and buy the pristine one behind it. This is not grading, but it is taking into account condition. The fact that some may want to take into account condition of their chips is normal. The fact they may want to know what a third-party thinks is normal too.

As far as slabbings impact on the chip hobby, I will not even venture a prediction. I will say, however, that in November 1999 ICG announced that it was grading, authenticating, attributing and encapsulating ancient coins. A month after the announcement I attended the New York International Show, the world's largest coin show for ancients dealers. I wish I had brought a suit of armor with me. Everyone was attacking me, saying this was the worst thing that we could ever have done and that we were traitors to the hobby. I think if someone had a length of rope they would have hung me from the ceiling and left me dangling there until the next show.

Just two weeks ago I attended the 2000 NY International. A year had passed, the dust had settled and the world had not come to an end as some had predicted. I saw a number of encapsulated coins in various dealers' cases and I could report that in the intervening year ICG had graded, authenticated, attributed and encapsulated thousands of ancient coins. Furthermore, since I communicate daily with our customers, I can attest to the fact that there are many collectors who are buying ancient coins today for the first time. Many have told me that until now they were afraid to purchase an ancient coin because they didn't know enough about them or they were just not comfortable buying them because there was too much uncertainty. I must admit that most of these new enthusiasts are younger people--people in there 30s and younger--but they are truly the future of the hobby. Additionally there were three specific dealers who had cried, "heresy" the year before. Already they had found customers who liked ICG holders and were buying ancient coins with new fervor. They had been converted, and they were not selling a different product. It was the same ancient coins with additional consumer protection offered to their customers. One actually told me he did not display the slabbed coins at the show because he had made such a stink the year before and did not want others to know the new direction of his business.

I should let all of you know ICG is currently encapsulating chips. The sample at the Las Vegas show was not a trial balloon. We will continue to do so whether business is brisk or slow as all investments in the chip business are now sunk costs. Currently we have examined over 500 chips. About 440 have been encapsulated as about seventy chips were rejected for damage, excessive cleaning, etc. We will monitor your board and read your emails for information. Please do not hesitate to tell us how you feel (particularly after you have seen the product). We will not engage in a daily back-and-forth on the board. Please do not take this as a disinterest on our part in your opinions as we will be reading them. We will be at all the shows and look forward to talking to all of you, no matter how you feel on this issue.

I have written this not with the intention of trying to dissuade anyone of there passion. I respect you too much to do that. Rather, it is my hope that we can have a dialogue about this important matter and eventually we come to better understand each other's positions. I would ask each off you to not make decisions on slabbing without viewing the product. Meanwhile, have a terrific holiday season and enjoy your chips.

James Taylor
V P Customer Satisfaction

PS - I have noticed one or two people have said they would quit collecting chips (or maybe they were dealers) if ICG was slabbing chips. How sad it would be to let others' collecting habits effect yours. Remember people will only send chips to ICG if collectors are buying them. I certainly know the chip hobby is bigger than ICG, and it is bigger than all of you that read this combined, but at the same time the strength of any hobby is the knowledge others share. You people are that knowledge. It may be of no consequence, but we at ICG encourage anyone who collects chips to remain true to his own collecting passions.