Hi Mike ----- wonderful musing you posted -- and a nice, thoughtful response from one of our hobby's real heavy hitters. I have mentioned here before that one of the reasons I started "collecting" chips after having "collected" them pretty much as you did, is the fact that it is NOT necessary to take the super serious attitude that prevails in the (particularly) the coin and trading card hobbies. I store my chips plastic chip racks (have some in regular chip carousels and others in a converted silver medal display chest) and keep them at home so that I can take them out and fondle them whenever I want! <g> There is no chip in my collection that I wouldn't touch (a few, perhaps more carefully than others), though I do try to avoid abusing them. But I do a few things that would give a coin collector heart failure (such as cleaning them! and tossing them to my kids when I need help identifying colors). Enjoy the chips, the chippers and the conversation. -- jim o\-S