No quarrel with the first part of your post Jerry and I always read whatever you have to say BTW. I always thought that the high $$$$ chips were the only area where entombment in a slab might make sense...but only to an investor rather than a chip lover. One aspect of our hobby that really puts cold water on the need for slabbing is that the items of our affection are pretty much wholly affordable and their accessiblity makes them more attractive, yes indeed, you can hold these things in your hand w/o affecting value as might be if you smudged a coin or mishandled a sports card. Of course, the longer the grading companies talked, the harder it was to associate them with any credibility that they could actually offer the hobby anything of value.

Guess I've got a different perspective on Spragg's reply to Mr. Scott. Pugnacious might be a word I'd use rather than anything else. Might I provide some context as someone who served in The Slab War? The grading industry showed up one day with plenty of attitude. Talk about condesending! Talk about arrogance! I don't recall specifics but their initial presentation contained more than a few chip collecting boners. Alarm bells were going off even before they declined to provide any information about how they were going to authenticate, grade, or rate chips. Could we vet their experts for ability or conflicts of interest? No, we could not. Chippers who had sought refuge in our hobby from coins, stamps and sports cards were fountains of tales of grading perfidy and hobby ruination-by-slab, geez, you couldn't get them to shut up!

Then there were the phoney posts by phoney newcomers who berated us for being outside of the slab universe but were really posted by the phonies who looked to harvest fees without proving they could add value. They tried hard with their divide and conquer program and the wounds from that still surface today. We gave them a fair shot at their say but they just didn't have anything to say. I missed that convention but they were given the courtesy of educational seminar space and a respectful reception. And we said No, Thanks, You don't fit into our hobby, Good Day to you.

You might have noticed that Mr. Sahara Coins can hold his own in a pi**ing match. From what I've heard about the coin business and seen of Mr. Scott, I believe the alledged rock-through-the-window could have come from folks who never heard of casino chips. Is he the kind of person who'd have guys lining up to chuck rocks through his portholes...seems a possibility to me! Chippers tossing bricks? Well, only here on the message boards is my honest belief.

In the end, if you treat people with respect and courtesy, you'll probably get it in return. Slabbing and Sahara Coins reaped what they deserved.