guides and the values that they present, do one yourself. Do you know WHY the guides that currently service this hobby only come out every couple of years or so? It's because there is a ton of effort put out by the authors of these guides with very little reward. They aint getting rich off of their endeavours, that's for sure. They are providing a huge service to this hobby & I, for one, am thankful for that.

I don't know what you collect, but it seems that for the recent issues & limited editions stuff, a "price guide" isn't really necessary but it is very useful in providing information as to issue dates, quantities, etc... My collecting interests are old obsolete Vegas chips & I use The Chip Rack and the Official US Guide to provide a "gauge" of where these chips should be priced. The actual value is always determined by the person that wants it the most...sometimes there's just one person interested in it, sometimes more. But I would guess that most collectors of the "high end" stuff have a pretty darn good idea about the value of a certain chip. And if not, they know the right person to ask...that's what I do if I'm thinking about buying an expensive chip (expensive for me is a couple hundred $$$ ).

Let me give you two examples & you tell me what you think the value for each is:
-- I bought a chip on several years ago for $7 & sold it for $1800 a week later ~ what's the value of that chip?
-- I bought a group of 3 rare chips for $1200 & sold one for $1000 & could sell the other two for $600 each ~ value?

The other thing about chip values is that they also have a tendency to be impacted by when they are being sold (a chip sold in March or August would most likely realize a higher sale price than one sold during the holidays), how many people know about it...and of course, the economy.

Once again, thanks to the authors of ALL of the chip guides in this hobby for the service that they provide.

Steve Bedo