At least not the ones in my neighborhood. A requirement to get your 'Bear' badge is to start a collection of something-- which is how I got started collecting coins about 25 years ago. My wife currently teaches piano lessons to a boy about the same age as I was, and last week I showed him my coin collection after his lesson. I sent him home with an 1898 Indian Head penny (100 years older than he is), a 1943 penny, and a Buffalo nickel. You'd have thought I had written him a check for a million dollars. When I happened to visit with his parents on Sunday they said that he hadn't stopped talking about them, and how he now wanted to get one penny from every year going back 100 years. I also make it a point to give all of my scouts a proof set from their birth year when they make Eagle Scout, and have introduced a couple to the fun of coin collecting as a result.

My point is (if there is one), that people will always collect things, especially those of us trying not to outgrow that wonder you feel as a 10-year old . While different things may wax and wane in popularity, I wouldn't be so quick to say that young people don't have any interest in collecting things any more. At least in my experience (which is admittedly a narrow field of scout-age youth), it is quite the contrary.

Of course, just because people like to collect some things doesn't necessarily mean that the things that we are interested in will be among those that are popular, so I can't comment on the popularity or prospects of casino chips. Personally that is why I like collecting them-- I like the aura of eccentricity . Over the course of my collection I have spent several thousand dollars, and I have justified some of my larger purchases under the auspices that I was getting them for less than they were 'worth' (I will rarely spend more than 60% of 'book' value to purchase anything, yet even then there is always more to buy than I have money to purchase). However, if the hobby were to suddenly decline in popularity, such that everything was now worth half, I would view it overwhelmingly as a positive occurrence, because that would enable me to purchase all the more. Personally I don't think that will happen. Casino chip collecting will never be as popular as coin collecting (although maybe we can see when we've been around as a hobby for several hundred years), but it outlasted Beanie Babies, so that's something .

My 401(k) is an investment; chip collecting is the thrill of the hunt. While in this economy they may ultimately yield the same economic results, I pursue them for entirely different purposes.

Anyway, not that there was any point to all of this rambling, other than to say I love this hobby!

Brent J. Jensen
orbis non sufficit