Slabbing Reminds Me of a Similar Problem ... that the good people of Salem, Massachusetts had to deal with several hundred years ago. Seems that they had a witch problem and these witches were doing horrible things to the towns people and were causing a lot of problems. Everyone was scared. There was some debate about what to do with the witches, but the more vocal, radical of the town had their way and the witches were burned at the stake. No witches, no problems. I suppose that some of the towns people were in disagreement about what to do with the witches and if there were even any witches at all. They probably moved to another town. In the end everyone was happy, except perhaps for the witches, because the problem was solved.

Well chip collectors are scared. They have seen the Coin Witches and the Baseball Card Witches and it seems like we may be getting some Chip Witches coming our way. I certainly don't want any chip witches and I joined the Anti-Chip Witch Club.
But it occurs to me:

1) I haven't yet actually seen anyone who has been hurt by a Chip Witch,
2) I've seen a few slabbed chips at chip shows, but they were only samples offered by the chip slabbing company,
3) I don't know of any chip collectors who have sent their chips to get slabbed
4) I know of only one dealer who was selling some slabbed chips at a chip show and he was about run out of town
5) I've seen one dealer selling slabbed chips on the internet and these were just samples
6) The possibility of a chip witch has caused three distinguished members of the chip collecting community to resign their CC>CC convention positions

The Chip Witch problem is certainly not a big problem at this point, if it is a problem at all. But it is a good idea to be pro-active and keep the Chip Witches out before there actually is a problem. Knowing the problems that the Chip Witches have caused in the Coin and Baseball Card hobbies, I applaud the efforts of those involved with trying to organize and educate chip collectors against slabbed chips.

I've learned that "banning" is only a temporary solution, at best. If people really want something, they will figure out a way to get it. The real solution to these kinds of problems is to change people's attitudes. Educate people so that they won't want slabbed chips. The issue of the ban at the convention has perhaps caused more damage then slabbed chips themselves have caused. No one, or very few of us, want slabbed chips, but don't let the issue of how we deal with them divide us.

I believe that that the newly elected CC>CC board is doing the best that they can to deal with the issue. They may have stumbled on their first big test, but if we would really like to see the Chip Witches go away, I think that would happen sooner by working with the board rather than walking away. I think everyone involved would like to see the next convention be the biggest and best one ever. That won't happen if we are divided.