Of the companies that proffesionally grade and slab coins (PCGS, NGC, ICG and ANACS) only ICG grades coins other than United States.

Now think of it! PCGS, NGC and ANACS have hundreds of staffers grading American coins "only" and here's ICG trying to grade everything else...World coins, Ancients, Tokens and Chips!

I was (and am still) an avid World and Ancient coin collector when ICG came about. I thought it would be cool to have some of my higher end ancients "slabbed" to protect them. As I was sitting at the kitchen table with my magnifyer, deciding which coins to send in, and pay the fee for, my roomate interjected herself into my thought process...

"Most of those Roman coins are 1500-2000 years old!" She said. "They lasted this long without someone paying $35.00 a piece to have them encased so noone can handle them!"

I agreed!

To this date the only "slabbed" coin I own is a 1904 Russian Gold 5 Ruble in MS70!

I just don't understand how any company can set standards for the grading of casino chips, when there can be so many variables!

Ie...Coins are made of a specific mix of metals, and are known to wear and degrade at a given rate, thus the grader has an easier time in formulating his/her opinion.

As for chips...Who knows what the composite mix is used to create chips? Will clay chips painted red wear faster than blue? Will East coast chips where there is more humidity wear less than Nevada ones? When reading TCR or US Price, "we" note that some chips are printed weak, or that a series has flaws. Well in the world of slabbed coins, these would be variants, and jumped all over in bidding wars!

I know people who will only buy slabbed coins. They claim that..."You can trace the coins pedigree this way!" Well, that hasn't stopped Sotheby's from offering unslabbed stuff over the past several hundred years!

Other than my one investment slab, I will remain SLAB-FREE! I will not endorse, or promote the slabbing of Casino Chips, and will try my best to convert folks from slabbing World and Ancient coins!

I'm sorry for going on so long about this, but I feel very strongly about this issue! It ruined the Coin Collector base!! I don't want to see it infect the Casino Chip Base!