With the New Year imminent and the second consecutive year of millennium chip issues <g> we find ourselves with some uncomfortable issues for CCGTCC to face soon. Come what may, I’m going to stick with the club and the hobby and I’ll tell you a chipping story from this past year that illustrates what chip collecting is to me. If you’ve got a similar tale or example please add on!

I bid successfully on a lot of 10 Reno $1 chips at a very nice price. A neat, inexpensive way to acquire more chips for my beginning collection. I didn’t know the seller, never saw the name before. Skipping the details of a eBay deal going haywire I finally, finally received the chips. Upon inspection I noticed that the chips weren’t the chips scanned in the auction decription. No problem to me if the chips were of equal or better condition than presented for bid, however, one chip was from a similarly named casino in Tahoe and two chips had condition problems. The rim of one looked kind of like a crocodile’s smile. Thoroughly irked, I waited till the next day and sent the seller an e-mail gently chiding his handling of the sale, explaining the chip problems and wondering what my feedback comments might be. I suggested he drop by CCGTCC.com and TheChipBoard to see how one group of collectors treated one another. I received an apologetic reply right away and found the seller was a club member! He wanted to make the deal right so I returned the Tahoe chip and the Flintstone piece. I was surprised at what I got back. As you know, a lot of Reno chips have been around for years. I expected table warriors for sure, but in fairly presentable shape. This fellow club member sent me two chips from his own collection that never saw a week of play and will take some considerable effort on his part to match. I thanked him and acknowledged his generosity and put these unexpected gems in my collection. Felt unsatisfied though, as if I had gotten the best part of the deal without deserving it. Events a few months later kind of closed the circle on this transaction. During a muddled trade with a club member it became apparent to me the my fellow expected a chip that I never offered for trade. I didn’t tell him sorry, no deal, I’m not gonna give you that chip or wait a few weeks and check back. I did what had been done for me. Walked into the chip vault, got out the big key and signed out my own veryverynice prime example and stuck it in the envelope and mailed it off. Still looking for suitable replacement but I sure do feel good about benefiting from a lesson learned as a CCGTCC member. Some chip values and profits aren’t listed in the excellent price guides we use.