Travis; I can agree with just about everything you have posted. I too share your concerns when it comes to friends choosing up which side of the issue to take.... and once-close friends may become distant friends from each other. But maybe they were not truly friends to begin with. This slabbing issue is exactly why it is bad for the hobby. I've seen it happen before. It's devisive and serves no purpose other than for ICG to make a ton of money.

Most of us are happy in our hobby; just the way it is. We are confident and aware of the condition of the chips we add to our respective collections and the friendships and comaradie that exists among us. We have many price guides available to us as references which provides us with ballpark figures of what our chips are worth. Sure, some chippers may decry the abuses by casinos issuing so many chips, and who gets how many, and who charges what for their chips, and some dealers pay the postage and others don't, and ebay shipping and handling charges, whether an individual chapter member must belong to the national, and on, and on, and on. There will never be utopia. Slabbing adds another dimension that in the long run will have a more far-reaching impact on our hobby. One person, who works for one grading service at the time a chip has been submitted is now going to be the sole arbitrator of grade and value. This sole person, may or may not be employed by the grading service one month after a slabbed chip is returned to the owner.

I read all the posts about "education" ... another buzz word. We are engaged in "education" every time someone posts a message to this and the club's message board. In order to become educated about an issue one has to read all the pros and cons. It may take some research into the archives to understand some of it.

There are still those among us who do not know what a slab is. Some have equated slabs as a dealer merely inserting a chip in a square plastic snap holder and marking his opinion of grade with a soft felt-tip pen on the cover. After all this back and forth ... some still fail to understand what we are talking about. I received an email this morning from a new chipper who wants to know what all the fuss is about. He puts his chips in 2x2 flips and stores them in 20-pocket pages in a three-ring binder and wants to know if he is doing something wrong.

I don't know for sure if we're going about this the right way or the wrong way. I guess it depends on whose ox is being gored. My personal opinion is that slabbing is not beneficial to the hobby in the long run, the way I perceive my hobby to be. I'm aware that there are those who see this hobby as a potential vehicle for becoming wealthy by hyping certain chips and touting condition as being everything there is. Nothing is more important than having the finest known to them. Slabbing re-inforces that misconception.... until a better one comes along.

That's what a poll is all about. Even an un-scientific one such as that which is curently being undertaken by thechipboard.com I don't know if it truly represents the majority of club members or not. It certainly represents the viewpoint of a significant number of viewers to this bulletin board. The pledge that Andy Hughes is conducting is comprised of virtually all club members with extremely few exceptions. Well over 100 strong who are opposed to slabbing have signed Andy's pledge. I do know that everyone who has responded to the poll has registered their own opinon about how they feel on the subject, without a gun being placed to their collective heads.

Perhaps a more scientific poll should be/could be conducted at the convention. A non-slab policy could be placed into effect for this convention (as someone else has suggested) with a determination for future years being decided upon to continue or not by the newly elected board, after more members have given input.

But to call a "truce", means for everybody to shut up and allow everybody to do their own thing. I disagree. I think the club has a responsibility to set policies concerning activities they undertake .... such as conducting auctions and conventions ... where restrictions are allowed to be placed on what can be bought, sold and traded. There are those who think otherwise; that "nobody is going to tell me what I can do and what I can't do".... under the banner of "Freedom". This club is well within it's rights in dictating what shall and what will not take place at their own events. What others do outside of that venue is soley up to them.

There is no easy solution.... except to repeat; "YOU POSSESS INFLUENCE... USE IT" Write to the club officers, write to ICG, post to the bulletin boards, but don't give up in what you believe in under the white flag of "truce".