Greg,
I disagree with you completely. I also was a sporstcard collector. I do not feel slabbing of cards was a benefit. I think there was as much or more abuse with slabbing as without slabbing. I do not need anyone to tell me the grade of a chip or card. I will make that determination for myself. This is especially true for high value chips if I can ever afford one. Also, ICG has not told us who these graders are. Who is validating the chips as genuine? IGC has not stated that anyone is validating chips as genuine. They are just grading and slabbing. I am not comfortable with this at all. I want the chip in my hand not in a slab. I want to examine all sides of a chip. A slab can hide problems especially on the edges. Plastic distorts the view of a chip.
I'm supposed to trust the grade of a chip in a slab after the abuses of grading and slabbing in the coin and card hobbies? I do not think so! I have seen the abuses myself with cards. If I need someone to validate a chip, I will go to someone I trust and respect. Someone who has a good reputation with me and others in the chip collecting hobby. Not some unnammed individual working for a company outside the hobby. A company that has no expertise within the chip hobby. A company that has not been upfront in its dealings with collectors to date. A company that refuses to reveal the identities of the so called experts that will be grading the chips. A company that until this weekend refused to identify the grading system to be used. Do you want to trust them? I do NOT!
I am 100% against slabbed chips and any so called "grading service" by any outside company, IGC or others. The added unnecessary expense charged for these so called sevices is not worth it in my opinion. It is your right of course to pay for them if you so choose. I expect you will pay more in the long run for slabbing / grading services than you will for the occasional misrepresnted / incorrectly graded chip.
Paul Donohue CC>CC LM3935-18