I know James Taylor, personally, from when he was with the ANA.... a position from which he resigned. He did a good job for ANA as it's Education Director and was a very fine gentleman to talk to then... just as his post was conveyed on this bulletin board. I can assure most everyone; Mr. Taylor is no Mark Brown .... he's pretty smooth. <g>

I'm still as opposed to slabbing chips as Mr. Taylor was opposed to "whizzing" in the coin hobby. Mr. Taylor has a fine background and strong numismatic credentials... and I admire him greatly. Why his company has gotten into grading and slabbing chips is for one reason, and one reason only. THERE IS A BUCK TO BE MADE! Just like the wall street broker, who does not care what the price of a stock sells for, the street trader is interested in the action of trades, trades, trades, commissions, commissions, commissions. Prices go up, customers buy and sell. Prices go down, customers buy and sell. The more volatility, the more money to be made.

I'll refer to a post I made a day or so ago. This 2,500 member club has much under-utilized clout (spelled another way .... influence .... "use it or lose it")! If it didn't, Mr. Taylor, as Vice-President of Customer Satisfaction at IGC, would not have spent the time in preparing his professional pitch to us that he has.... much less reading all the controversial posts about his company's product. He's mentioned the collectors of ancient coins, who were so adamant about slabbing their precious irregular-shaped coins. How many members are there in that club I wonder?

No one has suggested that chip collectors are not free to do with what they like with their own chips. They can burn them on their own backyard barbecue grill if they like... and I agree with Mr. Taylor, that we should be tolerant of what chips others collect. But Mr. Taylor would have us collect not chips, but the slabs they are in.... and the more slabs the better.

I support those who are running for club office who have pledged to prohibit slabbed chips from being sold on our convention floor and/or being sumbitted to the club auction. Mr. Taylor doesn't like that prospect, because it may give the impression that his product might be unacceptable in this hobby ... the largest member specialty club in the American Numismatic Association. Possibly even more members than TAMS. Nothing would please Mr. Taylor more than for the 2500 member Casino Chips & Gaming Tokens Club to endorse his company's product. His company may even want to purchase advertising space in our prestigious club magazine. Heck, he may even want to join our club ... and I hope he does.

James; Speaking for myself, I liked you back then; I still like you now, but I'll like you a lot less if your firm has anything to do with tearing this great hobby apart. Someday, I may have to eat those words. But I can pledge to anyone reading this post that I will NEVER purchase or submit any of my casino chips to IGC or any other grading/slabbing firm.

I do respect Mr. Taylor. I hope that he will revisit this bulletin board to directly answer some of the legitimate questions that have been posed to him. One caveat; when you meet Mr. Taylor, don't be misled by that neat trademark spotless white golfer's hat he wears. <g>