Hope you never feel uncomfortable posting here Charles! Or anyone else. By speaking up you may be inviting debate and discussion but I think most of the time it benifits the community on thechipboard.

Your point of view as to attracting new collectors is valid but I'm not sure I want grading services recruiting prospective chippers. Seems as if their present customer base would come into the hobby and be collecting by grade point with little consideration of anything else. "I collect only grade 60 and higher, I don't care if its red or green or whatever. Harrah's, Harvey's, it's one or the other but it's higher than yours!" I'm also worried that their customers will accept slabbed chips as convention rather than cost without value. At the moment we seem to be getting the benifit of new collectors everyday as seen by the postings on the board. Perhaps the proliferation of casinos in the riverboat states and Indian gaming expansion is responsible, at any rate growth is happening. Recent case is the excellent bid brought by the eBay auction of the Treasure Bay quarter, a Las Vegas price for sure. The point? The motive of the grading companies in attracting new collectors to chip collecting is to benefit the grading company only. I'm hoping to attract newcomers with the hobby as it exists presently with its diversity and genuine interest in the object of our collecting. And all the neat folks involved too! Guess my neck's stuck out now also. <g>