what someone is willing to pay for it. The price guides are just that-- a 'guide' in establishing value, but that will depend greatly on who is buying and who is selling as to what is a fair price for both parties. Generally for all but the rarest of chips the guides say that having it drilled makes it worth approximately 30% of the undrilled value. Personally I only own two drilled chips, and wasn't willing to pay more than 15% of undrilled value. However I'm sure there are others willing to pay more, and I've been outbid on a couple nicer drilled pieces for just that reason. I don't think the authors of the guides arbitrarily established a 30% threshold to which all collectors must absolutely adhere-- I think rather it was probably (in their experience) the average of the discount many collectors place on drilled chips. Conversely, on many chips I really want, I have paid more than the guides said I should, since I wanted the particular chip that badly (though I routinely look to buy for half of book value, and still manage to buy quite a bit at that level).

Just my $0.02 (which if drilled, would make it worth near nothing )

Brent J. Jensen
R-8007
orbis non sufficit