You posted the following .... ..."it did get me thinking about how convention AUCTION sales (which should be comparable to dealers’ bourse sales since the audience and wallets are the very same"...

I find it very interesting that on many occassions a chip can be purchased at a dealer's convention table during the day for less money than a similar chip goes for at the auction held that night at convention. Of course if there is a big disparity in auction price ... sometimes the dealer will mark up the price of his chip in his binder before the show opens to the public the next day.