I participated in the discussion that brought "history of the chip" into the retoric of chip condition argument around this here board. As I recollect, it seems some erstwhile collector of a particular arcane branch of chip species was sanding away cigarette burns from his little charges, changing their outward aspect to seem as fair and smooth as a lassie's cheek. I butted into the thread and stated that I didn't mind ciggy burns and considered them part of the history of the chip. Keep in mind this was back in the day before craftsmen started seriously removing and replacing material from the historical artifacts we watch over in this hobby. Back in the day when chip alteration was done for the slight ego stroke rather than greed. Nothing is new under the sun but the club hadn't shown the door to anyone for purposely and systematically misrepresenting the history of chips for monetary gain at that point.

I don't know if I coined the term but the first time I saw the phrase, I was talking about altering chips rather than cleaning chips. Now the common usage is to deride some unseen faction of collectors that may not even exist. Sneering at hyper-hygenic boogymen seems a straw man to brush aside to justify other chip perfidy. Chips get burned in their life. Chips get drilled. Chips get broken. Inlays come off. Events in the life of a chip that change it are history. Chips get dirty everyday. Chips get dirty as soon as we finish cleaning them. Dirt doesn't change a chip. Dirt ain't history. Don't change history to marginalize those who don't change history.

Blood is history? I concur! Blood certainly changed that chip. I have a chip with lipstick on it. Now there's a changed chip! I imagine a new history for that chip everytime I hold it.