Very nice post. Thank you for not jumping to conclusions on the situation with IGC referring to our names on this grading paper they put together. I will write about that in a new post.

I am not in agreement with why the grading system has to be complicated & your belief that it is this way to fool people who don't know what they are looking at. It is not hard to see that a shiny new chip is new (say "Mint" for lack of a proper word as their is none other than "New")& if you look close & it is chipped then it is damaged. To what extent & if a point system is used how much is deducted is something that will effect value & therefore important.

If a say "Universal System" is put to use that we can all use & hopefully agree on, I think that would be great. We all need to have something. Or at least some of us would or should want this. If a chip is very used then the edges will reflect this. What many don't quite see & what Archie doesn't quite see is that there are more factors to look at. We write about all we could find on chips in our "Grading System" in our Book.

Not everyone see's the same now do they? Young & old & men & women see differantly. Not everyone can be at the convention or any or all of the smaller shows to view a lot of chips. I am talking older chips or if current used at least to some extent. NOT commemoratives that are new & collected new. They are made to be collected new & I don't see why grading other than "has a small nick from dropping on the ground" or "was in play a week at the Hard Rock so not totally new" would be important. many times you can still get that chip so if you see a problem go trade it in for a better one. You can't do this on a rare chip! Rare in our book is 75 chips or less.

For example:
Joe is 65 years old in New York & Bob is 30 living in Nevada & Bob is a real stickler for condition & buys a chip that Joe says is "perfect" & when Bob asks about "grain" or "cross hatching" on the edges going all the way to the edge & Joe says from what he can see it's still "perfect". Now Bob sends Joe $1,000 for his "perfect" chip. (the perceived value of the chip in near mint to mint condition)This is the chip he has been searching for for 10 years. Bob then receives a chip that is worn! The edges just are not sharp & he only sees light "grain" to only half of the edge. He flips it over & sees a gouge on the inlay that never was mentioned. Further damaging the deal & causing grief. Joe did nothing wrong in his opinion he just couldn't see a problem & looking real close wasn't that big of deal to him. Bob, as mentioned, likes the better condition chips & is now upset & could feel cheated. It has happened to many of us. Let me tell you I have sent $1,000's of dollars all over the country to buy chips. SO many times the chips came through bad & it was just not worth it to seek recourse. Eventually if needed I will give examples. There are so many & I have the chips to show for it.

Ebay! Great example of where to buy misrepresented chips. I have letters, I have had lengthy conversations with new collectors as well as old. So many people are jumping on the chip band wagon to make a buck & they don't have knowledge of the chips they deal in. I hear every casino in Vegas has 2 collectors. I call most "dealers". They work in the casino & get old chips that come in. Some they keep but most they sell eventually. They also supplement their income selling the Limited Editions. One day they have some chips the next they are on ebay selling & maybe if you are lucky they will be nice & mention the condition they think the chip is in. DO you know how often they are right? I feel from what I hear & just rationale that maybe 50%. Not good odds. A new collector emailed me the other day to tell me he has had many misfortunes buying from ebay. He also mentioned how happy he was that we put the condition in the description & that usually it is better than he expected! That made me feel great! I have had zero chips returned to me off my 1000's of ebay sales.

My main point here is: This hobby of ours is booming faster than we think & if a person is not happy with most deals he makes he will quickly find another hobby. The smart new collector, who will be investing a substantial sum, usually hooks up with a dealer or two he or she feels they can trust. If a chip is in a slab & a trusted opinion of 3 people say it is a certain condition then that receiver can be pretty confident they will be getting what they bargained for. COnfidence will keep a collector collecting. Mistrust or bad judgement calls, through lack of knowledge or confidence can sour a person quickly & it is hard to build up the trust again. A collector to dealer relationship is important. Many new & wonderful friendships have been made through this hobby. Our hobby though is growing & there needs to be some security. Is slabbing the answer? Only time will tell. For now I want to set the record straight I have nothing at all to do with ICG or IGC whatever the name. Our "grading system" was not written for them. I didn't even know who they were until a few months ago! We did not write the book to get slabbing started!