I have to post this one. It's one of the reasons I - and I suspect many others of us - like this hobby so much and stay with it.

I had occasion to trade some chips with another collector, and we ran out of time. There were a few Colorado chips I had that he wanted, and he suggested that he just purchase them from me.

For some reason, I didn't have them on my trade list and couldn't remember their values, although I knew a few were decent. I suggested that he give me what he thought was fair, and I accepted his offer, having no basis on which to question it.

Later the same day I received an e-mail from him, saying that when he got home, he looked up the chips, and they were worth substantially moreo than he'd given me - by a significant amount. He said he hadn't been trying to get away with anything (not that I suspected he had), and offered to get together with me some time in the near future to make up the difference in chips of my choice from his traders.

He didn't have to say a word. It would likely have been weeks before I would have realized that I might have let the chips go for substantially under their real value. And even then, I would have chalked the matter up to stupidity on my part rather than blaming it on him.

We have honest disagreements with each other and talk, even argue, about "outrageous" shipping charges, price gouging, puffery in eBay descriptions, counterfeiting and other dishonesty. Some seem to think, reading the posts on Greg's board, that the hobby is fractious and full of opinionated belligerent people who look for fights rather than sticking to collecting.

But enough of us have experienced this kind of integrity that we love this hobby and cherish the friendships we've made with the outstanding people who collect chips.

If you've doubted your fellow collectors recently, maybe this incident will help restore your faith.

Michael