I don't really dissagree with what you say. Except for your discription. "Horrible feel, horrible look, and positively hideous sound." I will admit though that I have never played with a set of these. Only a hand full that I have tossed together, shuffled in my fingers etc. I do notice a big sound difference with them and there is a difference in feel. However my experience is that it is not something that would really effect my playing with them. It is the game and the friends that I am playing with, not the chips. But, as I think I mentioned in a previous post it is a personal taste. Some like them, others can't seem to stand them.

I personally think they are a bit attractive, depending which design you buy. I like the dice chips mostly but have put off mainly because price but also because I am not much of a craps player so Dice do not fit my personality. I was a little psyched when I noticed the new 21 chips where they have a blackjack hand engraved into them. I really like that but since they are a new design they, of course, are the most expensive. Personally I don't care much for the gold stamping and it doesn't bother me if they are plain in the middle.

I do like Hat and Cane mostly and would buy a set of those right away if I could find a design that I liked that weren't too expensive. I guess any SET of quality chips isn't going to be cheap. I have found though that Plain are,... well,... Plain. And most of the fantasy chips are a little too hokey for me. I have never seen a set that really struck me where I had to have them.

As for resale value as an investment, I find it hard to think that way about any set of home poker chips. I choose not to buy the drugstore plastic chips, or the like, firstly because of the way they feel, light weight, locking ones stick together... etc. and I will admit because they WON'T hold value. I could pay $20 bucks for them and at a garage sale tomorrow they might sell for about a buck. Regarding the higher quality chips like we are discussing, Whether 11.5 gram, Can't remember the name of them, they do have a name though. I think I posted it here a year or so ago when I stumbled accross it on the net. Or whether it is Chipcos, which are really nice but really expensive and again kind of hokey designs if I recall, or HC, I don't think any of them will have much difficulty holding their original value. Or at least most of the value. I have meant to go to some garage sales and estate sales to see if I can find other sets of chips. Find out how they hold value etc. Living in an area outside of Chicago where there are a lot of affluent towns and all I would imagine there could be some really nice CUSTOM sets out there. After finding the sets that my father had, I posted about them a couple months ago, I have thought how cool it might be to collect some chip sets. Someone said one of my dad's sets was clay but I thought it was Bakelite (I could probably be wrong), The set dates back to the 20s maybe, and the other was clearly plastic but nice and substantial. Embossed, Heavy.... Definately not drugstore plastic and in a nice wood, Walnut maybe, carrousel. The Plastic set I remember my dad buying at a neighbors house sale when I was little. I don't recall them being expensive. So back to the subject of value, I don't know how well any quality set is going to hold up in comparison to others. Besides, I am thinking as a set to play with, not an investment.

Last point, I have probably gone too long again as is, Maybe a little incoherent too. I would imagine clay chips might hold more value in good condition because of the fragility of the chips. Clay will probably be more delicate than the plastic Dice or Suited chips. Fewer sets remaining in tact because of broken and lost chips.... making full sets more rare and more valuable. The Resin, or plastic, Dice Chips might not be as valuable because as the eBay ads indicate, they are so massed produced that there will be thousands if not millions of these sets out there for years and years to come. Also like I elluded to, time will only tell whether the resin that these chips are made of will stand that test of time. I have seen and heard of plastics, in the past, that, over time, would dry out, get brittle, chip and crack etc. Fade or turn color?... If these chips suffer from any of that than a lot of people could see a really expensive investment go down the drain. Fewer sets might remain in MINT condition and those could appreciate. Others might show age and decline in value. If they do survive the test of time and don't crack, chip, fade, turn collor etc., than there will be soooooo many sets out there that they could become a dime a dozen. I would emphasize though, that any purchase I would be making is intended to have a good set to use and play with. Not a set that will sit on a shelf as an "Investment" waiting 30 or 50 years for me to collect on it.

If I was looking for an investment, I would start looking for antique sets.