David, that bit of misdirection misses the point entirely. It's not a question of what I know or how long ago hotstamp cancellations were being removed. Nor is it a matter of whether one can detect a removed cancellation by tilting a chip in the light. From what I can tell, the filled cancellation hole in the chip which appears in the Heritage Auctions advertisement is apparent without tilting or any other special detection method.

And let's be clear - I am not the one who claimed that the Heritage Auctions advertised chip was "disturbing."

However, the issue in both instances is clear: both the Heritage Auctions chip and the chip appearing in the Club auction were cancelled. In both cases, an attempt has been made to eliminate the cancellation - one by removing the hotstamp, the other by filling the drill hole. In both cases, full disclosure of the modification has been made. Neither should be more "disturbing" than the other.

Since you asked, the Committee on Standards and Archives spent two years carefully studying the question of altered, modified, repaired, fake and counterfeit chips. A report and recommendation was submitted to the Club's Board of Directors and was not adopted. As you are surely aware, it is extremely difficult to devise a policy or rule that covers all situations. It is even more difficult to construct a fair, reasonable and definitive enforcement scheme.

I repeat: I am not the one who suggested that the Heritage Auctions chip (or its description) is "disturbing." The point of my post was that we should not be casting stones when we ourselves are sanctioning the same - or very similar - actions.

Michael