I think it's fair to say that the club has a history of being very anti-slabbing. In addition to the anti-slabbing page on the club website, this very discussion board (not a CCA asset but the de facto "place to meet" for club members) has a blatant "Say No To Slabbing" link in the upper right corner. Click on it and you'll get a good perspective of why they feel the way they do. You can see all of the members (most still active members of the CCA and some still holding officer/director positions) the reasons they take their positions.

They say people are free to do what they want, but sadly, they "out" anyone who is know to have sold, or is still selling, slabbed chips. Not exactly a neutral position when you're doxxing people who have a different opinion than you. If it were up to me (and it's not), I'd vote to remove any and all position statements from the club's website and other materials and let the market decide what it wants without coercion from the CCA. To be clear, I'm not "pro slabbing". I'm "anti anti-slabbing". Yes, there's a difference.

By not allowing slabbed items in the club auction and not allowing exhibits to contain slabbed items, we are in fact imposing our will upon what should be the free will of the members of the club.

If the club gets out of its own way, anti-slabbers can still choose to walk on by slabbed items and vendors who sell slabbed items. Those who would like some assurance that they're getting legitimate items can participate in the slabbing world and pay a premium (slabbing fees) for the privilege.

It's about the freedom to choose and the right of each club member to interact with the rest of the collecting community in the way they feel is best for them.

A common statement you'll find in the anti-slabbing community is the doom and gloom phrase "Slabbing will destroy our hobby" (direct quote from former CC>CC President Mike Skelton on http://slabfree.marlowcasinochips.com/alert.htm). Well, this hobby has been experiencing a decline and I don't see how continuing to restrict it is helping anything. Open it up, I say.

-- barry