In this crowd, I'm definitely a novice, but I agree with you on it being the principle and not the amount of money involved. No one likes to be deceived. The auction should have noted that it would not be the chip shown. As to dirty vs. clean chips: If someone had a 1946 $5 die-cut Flamingo chip that they wanted to sell me and I could afford it (big "if") I wouldn't care how dirty or worn it was. It's all in the perspective.