I get a phone call from Miami to come down and inspect and price a bunch of chips from Cuba, way back when I was selling to Henry, AL Rollins and Gene Grossblatt... The importer had mentioned he had a one hundred dollar chip with a picture of a man and asked me who he was.... after telling him I phoned Henry to ask him what the availability was before I begin throwing out numbers and cherrypicking what I knew a couple of Caribbean collectors did not yet have. It was early on and at the time I was buying in quantity from importers who actually bought their chips in the "Cathedral" (a street market section in Havana). Henry told me he knew of only one that Bernie had and gave me an estimate of its value. I bought the chips offered me without bargaining and phoned Gene at work later that afternoon after returning home and everybody was happy. I was buying from very honest sellers at very reasonable prices who I could trust as they trusted me... A week later the hundreds turn up in quantity and the value dived. I phoned Gene and told him that I'll make it up to him at our convention (1994) for which he thanked me.... so, yes; your advice is good even though it doesn't happen often.
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