Stu; First, in light of what you have posted, I have to reneg on my promise in my previous post where I said that would be my final post.

I must confess that I have not examined either the Palms holder for the Kiss chips, nor the holder on HSN for the Horseshoe chips... but if they are snap-tite holders and not sealed, then I must change my stand on them being considered slabs.

ICG is recognized as one of the largest coin slabbing companies in the world. If ICG has introduced a new snap-type holder into the market, it defeats their purpose of coin grading and authenticating as any chip or coin can easily be inserted and switched in this snap-type holder. That being said, raises a whole new issue ... and that is the price they are charging for their holder which is double the value of the contents. If what you describe is true, a snap type holder, with no grade assigned, then in my opinion, I agree with you. It can not be considered a slab... but just a fancy and expensive holder for relatively common chips.