... some of the discussions after being away a couple of days. What is up with Hayden Thais?! I gather he is a new chip collector, but apparently has a problem with a price guide... am I correct in assuming this and, he is also going to attend the chip convention?! This could be fun! Someone, please point him out to me!!!

Please do attend the convention Hayden, if you haven't attended one before. It will be very educational and hopefully, will calm you down a bit once you meet the people behind the scenes... the collectors who also create the price guides. If still in doubt after meeting them, then communicate with anyone and everyone else at the convention. Information will be given, gladly! Ask and you shall receive. There is never a shortage of people who will take the time and converse with you, sharing some of the most priceless commodities in the world... their knowledge and their experiences.

Price guides, as I have learned, are just guides to "what information is currently available on the subject" (that is why they come out periodically). People are always finding new information, new items, new sources of said items/information and it takes time to compile all of that into a price guide and get it published. Maybe, it shouldn't be called a price guide, but more of an "informative collector's guide"?

As for the people who generate these price guides, they do so because it is a hobby to them, it is a labor of love, it is what they chose to do because they enjoy doing it and... why not make money doing it?! They work for it, it takes time and sweat, it is sometimes stressful, it requires a lot of research, communication, observation and monitoring (eBay, auctions, conventions, garage sales, estate sells, chip selling web sites, etc.). If you think it should be free and posted on the web, then why don't you volunteer to work at the convention? Why don't you go to work and not get paid? Why don't you join the armed services and do it for free?

Just remember, everything in life that is seen, heard, smelled, tasted and experienced, is subject to one's own interpretation... and how they share it!

Regards,
Thomas (R-7788)