Hey Pete,

The best way for selling or purchasing high-end chips (in this case let's say chips with a value of more than $100), viewing the chip in hand is the BEST. However, that isn't always practical - especially when the chip is on the east coast and the buyer is on the west coast (or other places not near each other...). In this case, a "Good" scan of both sides of the chip is a reasonable second choice - as the old saying of "A picture is worth a thousand words" really does apply. If the seller doesn't have a scanner or digital camera that can produce such an image, then other arrangements needs to be made to make sure that both parties are satisfied.

WRT (With Respect To) only slabbing chips to protect them, there is a lower cost solution - Air-Tights. CT Coins sells a box of 25 Air-Tights for ~$12.50 (check with CT Coins for the actual costs...). Which is probably less than getting one chip slabbed ($10 for the slab, + Postage and Ins), and one can have twenty-five protected!!!
It should be noted that I do put my more valuable old chips in Air-Tights.

If there is to be a grading system, how about:

"New", "Used", "Well worn - or placeholder"?

Sorry for the sarcasm - as I'm really NOT IN FAVOR OF A GRADING SYSTEM!!!

Regards,

Dick