You're right Gene. I'm not up on current Nevada chips anymore (I'm using a four-year old catalog ), but if as you have confirmed ... the Kiss set was merely housed in a cheap cd jewel case ... and if the HSN Horseshoe chips are housed in similar but custom made snap-lock cases, then I don't consider either a slab and I owe Stu an apology.

Numismatic News was giving out samples of their new product at last year's ANA convention that appeared to look like a slab holder, but it was a snap lock type case with their logo or name imbedded on them for collectors to insert their own chips. If the NCG holder that is housing the Horseshoe chips can be tampered with, or the contents can be easily substituted with inferior product, then it can't be considered a slab. In fact, putting the price aside, the fancy holder may wind up giving the hobby a boost. Yes, folks will be getting ripped off on the price paid ... which they will discover after the fact. But even many of the U.S. Mint products one can't ever get their purchase price back.

I've used this line before, but it's still a truism. My daddy used to tell me, "Son, if you want to learn how to shoot pool, you can expect to buy a few rounds of beer." [i/]" Those HSN shoppers who do purchase these Horeshoe sets hopefully will get their feet wet and their curiosity stimumlated and it may just be the key to search out more information about chip collecting on the web ... and hopefully they will discover this message board and the club.

*Sometimes I wish that you had never issued that GroundHog chip Gene. No telling what I would have been collecting today!