Jim

Please be clear that I did not specifically state that Dave Whalen 'altered' any Moulin Rouge chips or that the chips Pete is offering are definitely altered.

This is what I said: I have reason to believe that some Moulin Rouge chips may have been fixed.

As the quantity of drilled chips known exceeded the 90 which has become the topic of discussion, they may or may not be a part of it.

You replied that you had examined them carefully with a powerful glass and that no repair could go undetected as such.

My comments were based on a recent discussion with Gene and his previous posts/articles on the board: It is known that Dave Whalen, amongst others, has made molds/dies for many styles of chip. My information is that a drilled chip could be fixed without detection providing that the hole did not touch an insert. This repair is only visible by xray where the repair shows up fractionally darker.

That being said.. if I bought one of these chips I would have it x-rayed.

I may be completely wrong on this which is why I am seeking to put the record straight now - but there were two more factors which rang an alarm bell: If you care to look at the chip Pete shows on his website

http://www.lvchips.com/1moulinrouge100.htm

and look at the 2 oclock to 2.30 region on the mold pattern - something looks amiss to me. This may of course just be the scan. The other factor was that you had stated a number of the chips had inlays 'peeling away'. One reason for this could be excessive heat. Look at Petes scan again - the inlay is an almost perfect circle apart from a small disturbance in the same 2.00/2.30 area.