Jerry,

I think the problem lies with the assumption that there is, or will be, an unbiased 3rd party to grade chips that has the skill and knowledge to do so accurately.

You mention that the word of the seller will always favor the seller. That would also be true of the slabbing company. They are selling a service and they would want you to use their service. Are they not more likely then to "favor themselves" by grading as high as possible to make their customer happy?

You know what scares me most about slabbing? It is the big investors like the guy you mention that don't know that much if anything about the hobby, but are ready to bring in big bucks if they percieve that someone else will do all the work for them to verify an item.

That kind of "collector", and I use that term loosely, is what entices the slabbing companies to get involved. When they do, that in turn brings in more of the investor money and prices begin to rise.

Then, when new people get into the hobby, the first thing they see is claims made by the slabbing companies about how great their services are, and they begin to lean towards slabbed chips even for the lower end stuff, because it gives them a false sense of security.

That in turn brings in more slabbing companies who want a piece of the action and who can't really be unbiased because they want your business and low grades don't make happy customers.

Soon there will be 4, 5 or more companies slabbing chips and everyone will be arguing back and forth about who grades the most accurately and who is better at this, and who is better at that. There will be scandals and some slabbing companies will be exposed as frauds, some won't, but you will find that none are trusted by everyone.

Then we will have come full circle and you still won't be able to trust a chip, just because it is slabbed. You will need the knowledge that develops from your passion about the hobby to decide whether this slab is accurate or that slab is more accurate. You will need the knowledge of others to help you learn and decide.

So, nothing will have changed except that unslabbed chips will be harder to sell, and prices will rise. We still won't have any way to know if a chip is what the seller says it is except the knowledge and skill of our long time collectors. And, it will be harder for them to decide because the chip will be locked away in a plastic capsule that makes any real investigation more difficult.

Just my opinion.

Greg