Mike, I've posted this on several occassions, so some of you can skip the rest this one.

I started the same as you. I brought a few chips from Europe ( Army Tour) in 1959. Souvinirs. An old Ky casino owner gave me my next chips in about 1962. The history behind them got my attention. I went until 1995 picking up chips at casinos I visited. I did always ask, who owns this casino. Throughout those 30 years many people ( friends, relatives) gave me chips, because they knew I was interested in them. I kept them in a drawer all those years. I never once suspected there was anyone else in the world that kept chips. I can not use the word collector as I did not consider myself a collector. I had several thousand chips in 95 when I discoverd the Aladdin convention. In my mind, none of them were valuable. They were just mine. They are still mine. I put no value on them as I will never sell a chip, I only have one of. Others put value on them, nothing wrong with that. I don't use flips or binders either, but I no longer keep them in a drawer. If there is ever a grading system, I will NOT stop collecting, But I will not follow it either. I did the coin thing, like many others in the hobby, it wasn't for me.

The history drew me to the point, I am at in the hobby, today. I now call myself a collector after over 30 years. It is not a dirty word, but it means different things to different people.

Everybody does what ever they have to do. Some old Chinese guy once suggested:
"I Did It My Way" So, I am doing it my way. So, do it your way.