>>>>>"First off...if I'm correct, I have gathered "slabbing" to be the act of taking a chip and sealing it in a protective case to make sure that it stay in tact. (If I'm wrong, please correct me.)"<<<<<

Shaun; Because you are (in your own words) "very new" to this hobby ... is exactly why those who opt for "education" instead of taking a pro-active role by discouraging companies like ICG to invade our hobby, is part of the problem.

This debate has been going on since early to mid-December and there are still those such as yourself (no offense intended) and a few not-so-new chippers who don't know what this slabbing controversy is all about. Virtually every day or two another new chipper posts to this board that they don't understand what the fuss is all about. Yet those who are in favor of "educating", choose not to come on this board to "educate" you or others who post that they don't know what the issues are about. I don't think it's up to me to do the "educating". My education offered comes about by encouraging others into getting active ... not sitting on the sidelines and doing nothing.

However, I would like to take advantage of your invitation to "correct me(you) if I am wrong."

Shaun, putting a chip into a sealed plastic case to protect it could be a practical thing to do... but that's not what "slabbing" is all about. The same protection can be achieved by putting the chip in a plastic flip, a plastic snap-lock holder, a fold over cardboard 2x2, or an Air-Tite holder... all of which are readily available in the hobby.

This issue is all about a private company, OUTSIDE OF THE HOBBY, who would depend on a pre-judged, taken-for-granted assumption, that chip collectors, whether club members or not, are deficient in their own grading skills and must depend on a 3rd party to grade their chips for them. They are setting themselves up to be the final authority on what grade any chip is that passes through their "outside the hobby" process.

Yes, I said "outside of the hobby" and that's an important distinction. These grading/slabbing companies are not "IN" the hobby. These companies do not buy, sell, or trade chips. Their sole purpose is to make money off of their unproven, unwanted, grading/slabbing services. These companies want to encapsulate your chip and assign an abribtrary grade to it for the cost of $10 per item. You could house the same chip in a suitable holder for $1 or less. ICG does not guarantee their arbitrarily assigned grades. A chip grader who is employed by ICG today may be history tomorrow, next week, next year.

ICG has not presented their criteria on HOW they plan to grade casino chips. All we have seen are the ungraded samples of slabbed chips they are distributing free at various shows around the country. Are Paulson chips going to be graded by the same standards as Bud Jones, or HC Edwards chips? What about CHIPCO? Does ICG plan to utilize a numerical system to grade chips, or an adjectival description system?

ICG has not divulged who their chip grading consultants are going to be. What are their qualifications? How come folks continually come to this board with their questions that should be directed to ICG? How come ICG is not under the same degree of scrutiny and 3rd-degree as candidates for club office who are trying to protect this hobby are?

Putting the proposed "BAN" aside for the moment ... electronic polls on two popular bulletin obards have overwhelmingly indicated that the CCCTCC membership is strongly opposed to any introduction of slabing chips into our hobby. In fact, additonally, almost 200 club members have supported a petition (or pledge) being cirulated/solicited by Andy Hughes of Las Vegas, testifying to that fact ... in spite of Mr. James Taylor of ICG's market research study... boldly claims a 90% support rate. ICG presently slabs and grades coins. We don't need the problems that are associated in the coin "industry" regarding grading and slabbing to infect our FUN hobby. A difference of a single grading point on expensive coins translates to hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Let me ask a legitimate question to readers of this bb: If ICG had not planned to introduce graded/slabbed chips into the chip hobby, would we as collectors be better off, or worse off, or see no difference at all. If your answer is "no difference at all", then why do we need them? It seems to me, ICG needs us ... more than we need them.

You see, ICG needs a HUGE volume of chips being graded and slabbed by their company in order to make this thing profitable. That is their only purpose, at $10 a pop. How many chips currently on the market or in collections do you think will result in being slabbed? How much do you think this grading and slabbing will affect chip prices in the future? How many $10 do you think it will take for them to make this venture profitable... while paying big salaries to graders, company officers, office staff, etc? Don't look at today's market conditions as a barometer. Every new collector into this hobby started out with the relatively inexpensive more common chips that are available. Most collectors begin to expand their horizons as their development in the hobby grows and their thirst for knowledge increases. What you collect today, may not be what you are interested in five years down the road. For those of you who may be in the hobby for the short-term, you may look at this slabbing issue as non-sense. You may not be here five years down the road. I would hope that the veteran chippers will look upon this serious intrusion into our hobby as having a lasting effect on older collectors as well as new collectors just coming into the hobby.

Please... join with me by supporting Jim Reilly whose campaign pledge is; "Not in my hobby, Not on my watch!" And next time someone posts "what is this slabbing controversy all about", perhaps a link to this post can be offered as just one answer? I'm sure there will be others.

Those of you who do not share my opinions, please don't post to my message, but post your own thoughts to Shaun. He's the one asking the question(s).