After requesting Lynn's list of chips - as I guess many did... and printing it out (on my computer - it took 40 pages because of format) - by the time I hit 'bout page 18... I emailed him, asking if I could call him.

We spoke via telephone for several hours ... everything about him suggested an honest, ethical person who acquired a pile of chips over many many years with NO CLUE (like a lot of us! ) of what their value could be. In my humble opinion, he did what a resourceful, but "uniformed" (like a lot of us ) person might do - he purchased two separate resources to assist him in determining their values "fairly" - The Chip Rack and the 2001 Official.

Thank you James for current information on this chip. But what can a person DO in this position other than use the "guides" and hope to God the information he trusted is close??

Dismissing the issue of rarity ~~ which to me has little merit anyhow ~~ as we DON'T KNOW "how many chips" are REALLY out there. They're stashed in boxes and closets and vaults - all over the world... and only time will put the numbers together. ~~ I PERSONALLY (and he doesn't know this, but he will now) SPENT HOURS surfing various sites that sell NV obs... trying to find chips that would confirm or negate what "The Books" indicated ~~ JUST for this reason. I got the impression he is real nice guy - and I hoped to spare him some misery of being "wrong" if any of the chips he has ARE NOT as the books indicate. I didn't find anything remarkable either way... as in either I couldn't find the chip listed for sale - or if I did - the price was within a reasonable margin of the books (BOTH books) suggested values.

The TCR#7 rating on the Trenkle is J ($50- 59).

Help me out here folks... I have NO CHOICE but to use "books" as a "Guides". AND I SAY "GUIDES" as I fully understand the instability of the chip market. But what else can we do to establish accurate info??? What does the non-collector do??? And most important - what does the experienced one do??? We can't know, read, hear everything. And short of POSTING EVERY SINGLE CHIP we are buying/ selling/ trading PRIOR to the transaction for updated information... if available - or spotted & responded by someone who knows something different - are we really just S.O.L?? SCARY!!

But I feel compelled to comment on his behalf: at the time Lynn listed that chip (he sent me the auction link to show me) - unless someone produced this above "corrected" info to him prior to then (and of course I would have no knowledge of that) ... I have no reason to believe he did any less than someone might do in his situation: he used and trusted a combination of printed resources that were available to him - the same ones MANY of us use and trust on a regular basis -- to represent that chip "accurately" for auction.

I DID purchase some chips from Lynn. They arrived promptly, were packed well and were all in the condition he described to me on the phone. I am saddened a little by the revelation that the info he had available on the Trenkle was inaccurate. I had even emailed someone on his behalf to try to verify the info that was in the books, but that person must be unavailable as I did not get an response. I sent 2 emails)

I guess "Buyer Beware" should include "Be Wary of Books" now too?

Anyway - HEY EVERYONE- have a great weekend and see you all in a few weeks!