are for high end chips. I don't see the point for $10 chips, or even $50 chips. In fact, I don't see what value slabbing brings at all, not having been in a hobby when slabbing was prevalent, but I am willing to assume it might. If I am right, and it's the high end collectors that would want to see slabs before investing, to authenticate and evaluate chips for them, then it would be up to those who own high end chips to decide if they want to have them slabbed, not the club, or the majority of collectors. Well over 10 years ago, there was a huge discussion about whether to support slabbing on this board. Look it up and see all of the arguments on both sides. I knew nothing about slabbing at the time, and had no interest on either end of the issue, but I was overwhelmingly swayed by the anti-slabbers. In fact, I don't remember a single reasonable response to any of the serious questions posed by the anti-slabbers, such as who would do the grading and authenticating, or what criteria should be used in grading, or even what purpose there would be in slabbing. Coins, sports cards, comic books are all easily damaged and are in need of preservation methods. It has not been my experience that the same level of care is needed for casino chips. Anyway, my point is that those high end collectors have had more than a decade to decide to protect their investments if they so choose, and I am not aware of a single high end collector that has had their chips slabbed. With the level of investment that some of the high end collectors have, I seriously doubt their decision is based upon the stance taken by the Club. When real money is involved, investors will take whatever steps they feel is in their best interests, I would guess.

For the record, I don't want to see slabbing at my level. It seems pointless at the low levels I collect. That being said, I have no strong opinion about slabbing at the upper levels of our hobby. If someone is serious about bringing slabbing into the hobby, however, I think they need to address all of the concerns and have a plan for exactly how slabbing will work in this hobby, and at what levels. So far, I have never seen anyone really try, including the companies that tried to break into the hobby years ago. If you, or anyone else, is so motivated, you really need to read the old posts and see people's concerns and be prepared to address them, if you want to be taken seriously.

JMHO

Michael Siskin