Bob, you're lucky you got out of the Holyfield-Tyson match with both your ears intact!

My sales are brisk - just sold a couple of chips on eBay, for 10¢ and 25¢ each. (One was a former ashtray with 3 burn marks, the other bent like a potato chip.) Oh, wait, maybe I am part of the problem. But what am I supposed to do with chips like that picked up at shows for a buck apiece? (I've grown a bit wiser and more discriminating in my choices.) But I'm finding that chips in ordinary condition bought from casinos simply won't sell - everyone already has one. And so I've actually been gathering some of my CA and NV chips and cashing them back in at the casinos.

Not enough new collectors coming in, plus - simply too many chips out there to collect. Thematic collecting is probably the only future for the hobby, just as it is for stamps (my father was one of the beginners in that type of collection). $5 Vegas commemorative chips? What's the purpose in collecting or trying to deal in them? You tie up thousands in your racks, cigar boxes, library card cabinets, etc., etc.

And it's even worse trying to sell slot cards and similar gambling memorabilia!