My statement that I undserstand what a slab is was made in response to Archies posts designed to show the physical nature of the slab, there are still conceptual issues which I don't think anyone has addressed.

>>No, I'm saying that a representative of a slabbing service should not be allowed to show up at the convention and do what any other dealer could not do -- sell slabbed chips or tokens.

May I self slab under your ban, or is it only slabbed if it was done by an "Independent Third Party"? You've already stated that I can't self slab.

If you would ban self slabbed chips, exactly what evil is it that you are preventing.

>>Well, that's a fundamental difference, isn't it. If it's not encapsulated in a holder which cannot be opened without breaking it, a potential buyer can remove the chip from the holder to examine it directly. Pretty much negates the whole point of slabbing.

I understand the encapsulation, not to be designed to prevent someone from examining the chip (That is just an unfortunate bi-product). My understanding of the purpose of the encapsulation is to prevent someone from reving the good chip and inserting a lesser grade chip and thus misleading someone.

>> Under your system, the seller could save himself the cost of
>> reslabbing, he can just misrepresent the assigned grade.

>Well, of course. Any dealer can do that any time anyway. But, he can't do it with the supposed "certified" imprimatur of a "disinterested third party with integrity".

Yes he can, he can take a certificate from a "disinterested third party" that was designed to state the grade of Chip A and represent it as applying to Chip B.