Sign the pledge. Join the slabfree club and pay your $5. Then we might 'consider' your opinion.

'Adopted' definiton of a slabbed chip for yours and anyone elses information.

'In mid-December, 2000 there was an attempt by a coin grading/encapsulating firm to introduce slabbed casino chips into the chip collecting hobby.

For those who are not familiar with this term, slabbing is a process whereby a firm who traditionally has provided this "service" in the coin industry, charges a fee ($10 has been suggested) for a chip collector to submit a single casino chip to this firm to be evaluated as to condition and an arbitrary grade is assigned. The chip is then permanently sealed into a plastic case with a registration number, and the arbitrarily assigned grade is clearly visible. This now-slabbed chip is returned to the owner usually within two weeks at the owner's additional expense.

This slabbing company does not guarantee the grade assigned. It is merely the opinion of the grading company's employee(s) who are examining the chip at that particular point in time. The slabbing firm has no interest in purchasing or selling slabbed chips. Their whole purpose of their existence is strictly financial in that they depend upon huge quantities of chips to be submitted for evaluations at $10 per opinion. An employee (grader) who originally graded a particular chip, may not be employed at the firm one month, six months, or a year later.'

This statement was written at the time two coin slabbing companies attempted to enter the chip 'market'. It may warrant review in the light of one or more new companies entering the fray, once the 'holders' have been examined and commented on by the slabfree club.