One way to beat the "darn expensive" cost is to find a few trading partners.

The bulk of my jeton collection was amassed by simply finding European collectors who were interested in American-style chips (or other American material not easilly found in Europe). I would send over 30-40 $1 chips and receive 30-40 5f chips in balance (week after week... month after month... year after year). I then started finding rare European jetons/plaques and started sending them to European collectors for cash and tade. I would work very hard in finding plaques that the Belgians, French and Brits didn't have; offer them overseas... and accept their rare exchanges. I would trade fountain pens, beer lables, stamps; coins and a whole lot of other stuff for jetons and plaques. Even today, you will rarely see me buying anything on eBay or on this board... as most of my rarer jetons and plaques are traded for...

There was no eBay in those days to use as a tool for finding trading partners.. but, today, all one needs to do is visit with whomever they wish, whenever they wish and trade.. trade and trade some more.

JB