Cary,

As someone who says that he doesn't collect casino chips, how can you possibly say that slabbing chips is good for the hobby?

When the issue came up years ago, as a former active coin collector I wrote an article about why slabbing rare coins is good for coin collectors, personally I own many slabbed coins, and why it doesn't make sense to slab casino chips. Basically, coins are graded on a scale from 1 to 70, and in some instances, a grade difference of 1 point, say MS-64 to MS-65, can increase the value of a coin by 100% or more. Slabbing additionally helps coin collectors deal with counterfeiting, alterations and unscrupulous dealers, issues that are not at all significant to chip collectors. Only experts are able to accurately grade coins and detect counterfeits and alterations. Slabbing provides real value to coin collectors, it guarantees grade and authenticity. But, I think that slabbing has very limited value to casino chip collectors, we do not face the same issues that coin collectors do.

That is my opinion. So I'll ask you: What value do you think slabbing will provide to chip collectors?