Believe it or not, I go along quite a bit with Mel's assessment of chips. I don't much care if the chips are in pristine condition, but it must be readable. Worn is alright--round edges etc.--but the hot stamp should have some of the gold still attached.

I don't save illegals and contrary to many collectors, I am not that much interested in the history of the persons attached to the gambling industry, especially those of questionable character. I am not following the Binion story but then again, I am not interested in the current doings of this Cuban kid either.

So why do I collect LE's? Well for one thing, they are inexpensive, yet many are very pretty. On the whole, however, I really don't care for most of the Nevada LE's but just love the Colorado chips as well as many of the cruise ship chips.

If I don't like the Nevada LE's, why do I collect them? Again, price has a lot to do with it. The value will not increase during my lifetime, but that is not a consideration to me. God forbid, if I ever should need the money, I'm pretty sure I could get at least face value for them; maybe even $1.00 or two over face. It's the fun of it. The challange of collecting (whatever the object) and of meeting friends, both over the net and in person at shows and the convention.