I agree with a lot of what Mark said, but I'm very against slabbing. I consider myself fairly normal as a collector. But let’s check:

I love the artwork on chips, the association with gambling and the history associated with them.

I also like the fact that my collection may grow in value and that over time I may sell a chip or two for money if I need it.

I also like the fact that I'll take a chip out of my collection 30 years from now and fondly remember when I traded for it with Michael Knapp on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

I like the fact that there are some dealers that pick up chips and make them available to me, someone who lives 3 time zones away from Las Vegas, for a few dollars over face value. (Otherwise I'd never get a Hard Rock chip.)

I also like the fact that when I die, my daughter will have a table at the convention selling my chips and sharing stories with everyone one last time. (She'll probably be trading stories with Rick and Amy Andrae's son about how they grew up together despite living 130 miles apart because their parents were so into this insane hobby.)

Does that all make me sound normal??? Yeah, I’m probably one of those 90%-er’s that Mark Scott talks about. Mark Scott made some terrific points in his post. One of them is why I'm against slabbing.

The point he made regarding investors is the conclusion I came to when I decided that I was against slabbing. I don't care if chips are graded. I like nicer versions of chips too. What bothers me is the thought that there is a white $100 Flamingo sitting in some rich guy's vault that I and most collectors will never see, not in person, not even scanned on the internet. They bought it for investment and promptly hid it away for 20 years. This is what kills me. Do I mind that James C. spent a small fortune on the first example of the first issue Sands $5 that was found? No. Why? Because James will end up showing it to half the planet by the time he's done. Some day, if I'm lucky, I might even be invited to look at it in person. Would Joe Wallstreet investor look at it that way? No way. Despite being vilified on here, I’m guessing Mark Scott would even consider posting a scan or showing it to us if we dropped by his store. (or maybe not, I’m on "the list" and banned.) The rich investor that Mark refers to would probably not either.

Even though the bulk of us collectors may be considered "collector/investors", I think if there were a box of white Flamingo $100's found, I think most of us would still want one. I know I would. In fact, every day I check thechipboard hoping to see someone found a cache of those, or old Sands or Riviera chips that are now going for $10 each. I'd love to own one of everything they ever put out--rare or not. Hey, I have a Stratosphere $1 chip that I keep and treasure. There's only about a billion of those, right?

Anyhow, that’s why I’m so against slabbing.

Bryan