... for some additional information and comments.

Following the threads on Capt Banjo's Horseshoe chips last week, I sent an email request for additional information to James Campiglia. He asked Steve Wells to respond and Steve did so, providing some significant information about the three chips involved.

Before addressing those specific chips, however, I want to make a general comment about the Campiglia-Wells book. In one of my posts, I referred to it as an "outdated guide", to which James took exception. And rightfully so, as my comment was an overstatement -- while some of the information in the book (primarily chip values) is outdated (and will certainly be updated when the new edition of the book is released), there is a significant body of information in the book which remains current, useful and reliable. So, I apologize to James and Steve for the overstatement in that regard.

Based on the additional information provided by Steve, it is also apparent that my comments about Capt. Banjo were, at least in part, based on "faulty intelligence". At the time I wrote my posts, I understood that a significant find of one or more of the chips involved had been made after the publication of the 2nd edition of C-W and was therefore not reflected in either the rarity codes or chip values.

Steve, however, advised me that with one possible exception, this is not the case. Taking each of the three chips in turn:

The 3rd issue mustard $5: rarity code in C-W 2nd is R-1 and this will not change in the 3rd edition. A hoard of these chips was found before C-W 2nd was published and this is specifically noted in the book. No new find of these chips was made after C-W 2nd was published.

The 2nd issue blue $5: rarity code in C-W 2nd is R-2 and this will not change in the 3rd edition. A hoard of these chips was found before C-W 2nd was published and this is also specifically noted in the book. No new find of these chips was made after C-W 2nd was published.

The 4th issue green $25: rarity code in C-W 2nd is R-3. Steve advised that they have never been able to verify that the chip is any more common than R-3. A hoard of these chips was also found before C-W 2nd was published; this is not specifically noted in the book, though there is a note which reads: "The market has been flooded on nearly all Horseshoe chips. Greedy, deceitful non-collectors have placed them everywhere, especially on Ebay & other areas of the internet." Steve advised that there has been no confirmed finding of more of these chips since C-W 2nd was published, though he has heard unverified rumors that one box might have been recently discovered.

One further point of interest is that, although many of these chips are known to exist, nearly all are in very worn condition and very few, if any, exist in top condition.

As Steve told me: "HOWEVER, there exists a small number of chips that we term "condition rarities" These are chips that are not rare in terms of their total number in existence, but ARE rare in top condition. The yellow $5 Horseshoe Arodie is certainly one of these chips."

And: "This causes a drastic leap in price for these pieces. It's like saying the chip is R-1 in average conditon, but R-8 or R-9 slightly used and R-10 in New."

Thus, with the exception of the unconfirmed possible box of $25's, my understanding that there was a find of these chips subsequent to the publication of C-W 2nd was incorrect. To the extent that my criticism of Capt. Banjo was based on that understanding, I apologize to him for that criticism.

I am of the opinion that it is inappropriate to state in an auction description the high end price for chips which are known to be "condition rarities", as Capt. Banjo did in these auctions. However, as this is an unusual circumstance, and I have no reason to believe otherwise, I am prepared to assume that Jim did this through inadvertence rather than an intent to mislead.

Thanks to James and Steve for making the special effort to clarify this situation.

----- jim o\-S