I would never drop out of collecting LEs. There are a lot of designers and casinos who frequently outdo themselves with new releases. I will always keep an open mind to buy when I see something that I LIKE. I do not limit to LEs either. I have seen a few House chips that are nice also. RIO Rita and Bellagio are examples of some nice chips. Luxors chip,(don't recall the picture on it though) is interesting. What John discribes though is why I have made a decision a long time ago that I will not buy everything. With maybe a few exceptions, I have no preconcieved desire to own entire sets, or everything from a specific casino. In my opinion, when you fall into that mindset with any collectable you start to loose interest. What happens is that you start spending enormous amounts of money and getting a lot of stuff that you don't really need or like. You stop buying because you like or want it and start collecting because you have to have it. My question is why does one have to have something.

I collect mainly from where I play. If something unusual comes to me accross the table I am more likely to keep it even if I don't have a special attraction to it. That is a souvenier more than anything else. However when it comes to buying from eBay or whatever, I will only buy something that I have a good feeling about owning. Then I will open my boxes and look at them from time to time. I also have a desire to get involved in RRs and trading. Since becoming a member of the club a couple of weeks ago I have received a couple of chips from other members. Those hold a different place in my collection in that they are kind gestures from friendly people. They represent the fun of collecting not just the act of collecting. I plan to go out and get some traders at the local boats or Wisconsin Indian casinos and start to do some trading. Then I think I will buy a frame and put all the chips I get from RRs and trading in it and display them as a reminder of the fun of collecting something rather than the act of collecting. It might be a lot of fun. I guess that is what was missing with Baseball Cards. I never collected them as a kid so didn't trade them or play games with them. All I ever did was put them in the spokes of my bicycle. I didn't get into them till later. It was a lot of fun when we were looking for Billy Ripkin and my friends and I were collecting together. When the novelty of the cards wore off, friends got out and I lost interest. I got quite a few Griffey Jr cards from that as well as some other good cards. The thrill is gone though.

If you confine your collecting choices to those that you have interactively participated in, or those that you Like and Enjoy and those that remind you of places you have been or people who gave them to you etc... then you will enjoy your collection more and may be more compelled to browse through them more or display them as they will give you those memories and warm fuzzy feelings. If you keep buying stuff because you have to have them they may just remind you of that car payment that you can't pay etc.

Happy Chipping,

Bill Schelhas