This was sent by brother Black--and it is very worth reading [I reprint it with his permission]:

Mr. Greg Burns
New Editor
P.O. Box 2031
Glendora, CA 91740

Dear Editor;

As a sustaining member of NASC, I would like to respond to James Halperin’s article, “What Happens After All the Coins Have Been Graded” that appeared on page 30-31 of the 2001/Number 4 issue of “NASC Quarterly”.

THIRD PARTY GRADING/SLABBING
By Archie A. Black

This 25+ year ANA member has a much different opinion regarding grading (and slabbing) as it applies to my numismatic hobby of casino chip collecting. I find it interesting to note that Mr. Halperin conveniently leaves out the term “slabbing” in his one-sided article. While the coin “industry” may be at ease with the grading/slabbing services …. A significant number of members of the Casino Chips & Gaming Tokens Collectors Club (the largest specialty club within the American Numismatic Association) are not so enamored with the aspect of 3rd party grading encroachment into our pristine hobby. In fact, well over 400 CC>CC club members have signed a pledge not to do business with any firm engaged in the practice of slabbing …. a debatable practice, which drove many former coin collectors from their once enjoyable hobby over to collecting casino chips. Yes, we do grade our chips … but we don’t need an unknowledgeable 3rd party service to tell us what the grades are at a significant cost.

While collecting casino chips has many comparable parallels to collecting coins; such as sizes and shapes; molds vs. mintmarks to determine the manufacturer and a wide assortment of various denominations just like coins; casino chips are used as a substitute for money and can exchanged for cash (including coin) … but casino chips do not exhibit the same grading characteristics as do coins. They are not struck on dies such as coins and as such, do not exhibit the same reflective surfaces as do proof and/or un-circulated or even XF/AU coins. They do not tarnish as do coins and chip collectors could care less about carbon spots, fingerprints, hairlines or minor mishandling that would send shivers up a coin collector’s spine. We don’t “dip” our casino chips to remove non-existing tarnish …. And cleaning casino chips is perfectly acceptable in our hobby. Mr. Halperin states in his article “grading services are here to stay”. My position, which is shared by hundreds of fellow chip collectors, is that a grading standard that may be acceptable in the coin “industry” is totally unacceptable in the casino chip hobby. We don’t support a 1-70 or 1-100 grading system nor do we support the common practice of “cracking out” and resubmitting the same item in the hopes it comes back at a higher grade …. and a sizeable number of club members are currently boycotting coin dealers who are now engaging in slabbing casino chips through ICG.

Just like there are two sides to every coin or chip … there are two sides to the 3rd party grading controversy I would cordially invite interested readers of this article to visit our website at www.slabfree.com for additional details of our objection(s) to slabbing in our hobby.

Archie A. Black, Past President CC>CC (1988-1999)