Mike,I agree with you.Many of us cannot afford the high end chips and we just have to accept it and collect ones that have meaning to us "poorer folk".
I remember going to the Hard Rock in January and hitting the cage to see if I could perhaps get a couple of chips as souvenirs,and was shown two different Halloweens that they happened to have....I thought...."hmmmm...these are pretty cool.I wonder if I could put together a collection of Halloween chips? These two silly chips started me off in this great hobby and that's roughly when I decided that I would go after chips that were graphically pleasing to me.Didn't really care that they were LE'S or even common house chips,I just collected cause I liked them.Love that Luxor $5.00 house chip with Nefertiti on it!Love the Excalibur dragon set! My first Horseshoe arodie: SWEEEET!
Found a great Holiday Casino chip at a garage sale and found out that it was worth a couple of hundred bucks and showed it on the chipboard.Within a half hour, I had two people want it.I knew that I would never be able to accumulate the best chips out there as my finances are not that great,so I let it go to one of those collectors who could, BUT....I wanted a trade...I wanted something that I found pleasing....and what I wanted was a $100 Orbit Inn chip.The collector happened to have one and he added some cash to make up the value difference.I will always treasure that chip.Is it rare?Not as rare as the one I let go,but I did not care, as I got what I wanted and he got what he wanted......AND...it is a cool chip!
When I see those chips on Rick's and James sites,I also realize that it is doubtful they will ever fall into my hands.But you know what? That's fine.
Maybe in time we will be able to go after those big ticket chips,but for now...like you...I can live with my small but fun collection. I am happy with it and look forward to adding to it for many years to come.