Archie:

Of course, people slab items such as you described. People also offer chips on ebay that are not casino issues. Me thinks it was W.C. Fields or perhaps P.T. Barum who said that a sucker and his money are soon parted (or some such thing like that).

Becuase any chip, regardless of how it is packaged or priced, does not sell in one venue or another is not necessarily a reflection of the package that it is in. How many people do you think would have bid on that Arizona Charlie's chip had it not been slabbed and still priced the same? Perhaps the same amount.

I do not own any slabbed anything. I have never bought a slabbed anything (yet). I have and will offer for sale slabbed items from time to time because I know there are some people (yes - with fat wallets and thin brains) out there who are willing to pay more for an item if it is slabbed. The items for the most part that are slabbed in most hobbies are those items that are either rare, valuable, or subject to alternation by those people who are less then honest to try and make an extra buck.

Are there things that are slabbed that perhaps that should not be? Of course. Are there things that are not slabbed that if the right person bought them would be sent to a slabbing service? Of course.

I support educating people on how to properly evaluate a collectible to determine if it is a real issue that has not been changed to effect its collectiblity.

I support leeting all stripes of collectors feel confertible in becoming an active part of our hobby.

I do not see how the curren campaign is helping in either one of those efforts.

I think a lot of people feel that this hobby stopped being fun ever time a current member does not renew. It certainly could be funner.

Cold in Minnesota - but still with a smile on my face.

John