Apparently this debate has been going on for some time, and I apologize for being too busy with work, family, etc., that I've been absent for the last couple of months.

I feel compelled to respond to this issue, although I'm sure others have said the same things better, and my opinion certainly isn't any better than anyone else's.

1. I think slabbing chips is a terrible idea.

2. Slabbing and intense grading is designed to make money for slabbers and graders, not necessarily dealers, and certainly not collectors.

3. Regardless what I or anyone else thinks, the marketplace will determine the success (or, hopefully, lack thereof) of slabbed and graded chips. It's like Gene Trimble keeps saying about "limited edition" chips (another anathema to me): when you stop buyin' 'em, casinos will stop makin' 'em!

4. Archie Black has many years of experience in the coin hobby, where slabbing and grading was "invented." He knows whereof he speaks, and from what I've seen, he's been consistent in his condemnation of the practice.

5. Despite my own strong opinions, I am absolutely and unalterably opposed to the CC>CC taking punitive action against members who collect slabbed chips or dealers who sell them. That's censorship in its most dangerous form. If the Club can decide that slabbed chips and those who collect and deal in them can be banned, what's to prevent the Club from banning dice collectors or roulette collectors or slot card collectors? Again, the marketplace will determine the fate of slabbing.

6. I haven't discussed this with Allan Myers or Ernie Wheelden, my co-authors, and for all I know they will agree with me, but I will argue strenuously against any kind of listing in TCR for slabbed chips. Unlike the Club, KMW Publishing Co. is a private concern, and we can determine what to publish and what not to publish. I have some experience with the philatelic (stamp collecting) hobby, and know that the major respected stamp catalogs have refused to list the "wallpaper" put out by some little countries to raise revenue from collectors rather than to mail letters. The same can be done in our hobby.

Thanks for listening!

Michael