There's enough dirt on it to suggest it hadn't been cleaned unless Jerry's does what Fort McDowell does - and pulls out a bottle of "mystery cleaner" and a shop rag to "buff them up" (was horrifed the first time I saw them do it )

And if someone did... the chip sat in the air for weeks. See - there was a "definite" course of events that happened around the time I got it.... and WHY it wound up in that holder.I was in the process of moving my NV chips from binders to vinyl flips & boxes. My duplicates were "flipped and boxed"... and "singles" were logged and scanned. I got two of those chips from a chipper - and yes - they had been in play - but they were "handpicked" and were in "decent" condition.

I could go on and on about "What happened" and why I recall the handling of this specific chip as I do... (because I do) - but I didn't do anything knowingly that contaminated the chip or holder... nor am I aware of anything that may have. I got two at the same time - the other is fine.

But what I remember the most was stapling that holder closed... how it almost instantly "molded around the chip" because the chip was bigger than the window and created an "actual impression" in the cardboard. (and the "damage" is EXACTLY proportional to the impressions left where the chip extended past the window. In places whrere the chip had extended farthest past the window, the greater the damage. You can virtually "replace that chip" back in the holder by matching the "impressions" around the window to the "severity of the damage". Plus there was yellow dust inside the holder...

But what I CLEARLY remember the most was an instant of hesitation and asking myself, "Wonder if this will hurt it?" but dismissing that idea because I had been using cardboard holders for coins for 20 years. (and confess, I've stuck a larger coin in smaller holder a time or two )

But I also had a "nagging feeling" about the holders because I had picked them up at a swap meet years before and was never comfortable that they had quality inserts. So I only used them for lower-valued circulated coins and tokens if I needed a place to "write"