... Jim:

>> Because I buy this chip & resale it is there a
>> problem that the 400 or so on your list can
>> never buy from me again?

I can't speak for the other 399, but as the author of the pledge in its finished form and first name on the list, I can tell you what I would do. The 5th item on the list says: " I will NOT do business of any kind with any dealer who participates in any way in the slabbing of chips."

I interpret that to mean (and meant it to mean when I wrote it) that if you buy a slabbed chip, you are "participating in ... the slabbing of chips" by supporting those who slab them. So, if you do buy a slabbed chip and I become aware of it, I will no longer do business with you (does that mean "never"? -- maybe not, as I am a believer in rehabilitation!).

Now, you may say, "so what, Reilly, you're not a high end collector and you don't buy from me anyway". And, for the most part, you'd be right (though I have paid $500 or more for each of several chips in my collection and four figures for one) & (I do own a copy of the first edition of your book, personally inscribed by you & Steve, and have bought chips at your table at each of the conventions I've attended). So, all I can say is it's up to you whether you want to cut yourself off from me and the other 400 or more collectors who oppose slabbing.

>> Don't dare tell me that. This is America.

I DO dare to tell you that I won't buy from you again if you participate in slabbing. And I dare to do so BECAUSE this IS America and I get to choose for myself with whom I will do business and on what basis.

>> I need to know how far this anti-slab movement
>> will go if I buy from someone slabbing. I can't
>> set my business aside because 400 of you don't
>> like the holder it is contained in.

You don't have to "set aside" your business at all. Seems to me your business is doing just fine without slabs or slabbing. If you think you'll do better by embracing slabbing, please feel free to do so and we'll find out for sure one way or the other.

In any event, rest assured that the "anti-slab movement" is NOT going away and that if slabbing successfully invades our hobby, it will not do so without a fight.

----- jim o\-S