I got a chip today I won on ebay from a VERY respectable chipper. Delivery was super quick, and I don't believe the seller had any idea about this. When I removed the chip from its nice flip, I noticed that one side had a normal, textured cover over the inlay:

The other side, however, had a strangely smooth, vinyl-like feel to it. Upon closer inspection, I believe the inlay is missing the top most layer of plastic that covers the inlay and binds it to the chip. Here is the second side:

You can see some texture at the top of the inlay, but you can't see with the naked eye, and you sure can't feel any texture. It seems like the texture is the imprint of the missing plastic, either when it was originally manufactured, or perhaps the plastic fell off later. Is that even possible? Anyway, the seller hypothesized that it might have occured during manufacturing because the inlay is still perfectly attached, and no color has been pulled off with the removal of a missing top layer.

Has anyone seen anything like this before? Does anyone have any thoughts about how this happened?

BTW, the chip came at a price way under value, and not enough to worry about, if the chip is now in the "uncollectible condition" category. The seller has even offered credit toward a future purchase. For now, this chip is going right in my collection.

What do you think?

Michael Siskin