If you believe that the growth of the hobby benefits all collectors, then you should have concern about newcomers being fleeced. these sorts of experiences discourage the growth of the hobby.

Yes I believe that individuals need to be responsible and do there research, on the other hand, many new collectors simply start with collecting chips from the casinos they visit. Then maybe they see some inexpensive chips for sale on Ebay or at flea market or what have you and they buy them for there collection, unawre of other collectors or the club or the books and resources out there. Then one day they discover that there are others out there and they find the resources out there, and they find that those chips that they have been telling there friends about were actaully fantasy chips.hey didn't spend much money so they aren't terribly upset about the financial loss, but they are embarrased and annoyed that they were misled or lied to and they decide that this isn't as interesting as they used to think it was, so they leave the hobby.