If I was very smart I would probably just keep my mouth shut on this topic, but heck, I just can't resist. I am no expert on fantasy chips or home play sets, but here is my opinion anyway.

I feel like the ebay listing has too much fluff in it. I feel like he has taken a few things that no one can be 100% sure about and made a big deal out of them to make the chips seem more valuable. No one knows for 100% sure that the sun will rise in the morning. That doesn't mean that tonights headlines should proclaim that tomorrows sunrise is shrouded in mystery or that it not happening is even probable. His auction description states, "The background of these chips are shrouded in mystery, most people think they were a short run of sample chips for a resort casino which never opened." That description, "Shrouded in mystery" is a little dramatic I think. It is simply not known for sure what the background is. I also don't agree that, "most people think they were a short run of sample chips for a resort casino which never opened." I don't believe that most people think that. It is way too many chips for a sample run and most people would know that.

I had an email conversation with Matthew Foster back in September of 2004 when he came on the board talking about these chips. I wanted a set for my collection and he graciously offered to sell me a set at a slightly lower price than he planned to offer them elsewhere. At that time he told me, "As far as I can tell this was not intended to be a Fantasy chip created by Paulson. I certainly could be wrong but I have been told Dave Ende that these were probably made between 1995 and 2000. He thinks they were probably custom made for a casino that never opened, or for a large client as a gift so to speak." I expressed my doubts that they were made for use in a casino of any kind as I felt there weren't enough chips for any except a small, small casino and that there were no security markings on the larger denominations and any casino using $1,000 chips would surely have security dots. I also felt that any casino small enough to only need 15,000 chips would probably have no need for $1,000 chips anyway. Matthews response was, "I concur. Somehow I think they were a Fantasy chip as well. I am surprised they haven't made their way into the market place before now though..." My take on this at the time was not that he thought they were a fantasy chip made up to be sold in Paulson stores, but a fantasy chip made up for a person or company for one reason or another. At the time, and today as well, I think these were made for a person or company to sell or give away. Who knows for sure.

I do not consider these chips rare and never will. I do however concede that playable sets of these chips will be rare and that for people that buy or collect sets in a quantity great enough to actually play with, will find these tough to get.

Greg