To All,
Last night was the Southern Nevada Chapter meeting of the CC & GTCC. I gave a presentation involving the slabbing of casino chips. To my surprise many in the audience were unaware that the "slabbing" issue had invaded chip collecting.

One of the key points in the discussion was trying to answer the question: What is the purpose of slabbing a casino chip? No one in the audience could really give a solid reason. One individual stated that the chip would be protected from damage. He was correct. Another said it would give credibility to our hobby. When asked to elaborate further the individual said "our hobby would now be like coin collecting". I thought for a second how sad it would be if our hobby was starting to become like coin collecting.

Folks the main reason for slabbing a chip, in my opinion, is GREED! GREED driven by the PROFIT MOTIVE. The people involved with slabbing casino chips will be/are doing it because "they" can make money. Money by grading and than slabbing a chip. They will make more money as those who don't like the grade break the chip out and submit it again and again and again and again until the desired result (grade) is obtained.

People, these slabbing companies don't care anything about our hobby. They don't care that many of us don't want what they are selling. Why do they do it? Why? They are driven by the profit that can be made from the service they provide.

I mentioned last night that the "main" chip dealers in our hobby had not signed Andy's list. Why? If you don't know the answer to this question you better go back to collecting something else <g>. Isn't it strange our dealer/collectors will not sign. The reason is that if it should come to the point of having slabbed chips in our hobby; they will buy, sell, trade and deal in slabbed chips. This is why they will not sign Andy's list. They buy and sell. This is their business. They tell us they are collectors as well as dealers. OK, I'll buy that. However, I believe the dealer part has a little more priority <vbg> when it comes to the question of slabbing.

Any way it was an enjoyable evening and I believe the audience had its eyes opened. Best, Jim