I introduced the 5c chip found in the "Newhouse '94 Find" about 30-yeas ago and did exactly as you explained you did right off the bat.

I first checked with locals as to where I thought the chip was from since everything in the find was Reno/Tahoe, including chips never, before, known to any of us.

Every bit of information I gathered in the first few days pointed to Reno/Tahoe, and everyone wanted one of the four 5-cent chips based on what was found new information by whomever.

My next step was to phone Miami and ask what they knew which involved making some phone calls to Quito, Detroit and and the sons and daughters of Piano players to those who were born and raised in the Reno area and talked and talked and talked with a lot of responses being what anyone who research would be pretty good info... and the speculation grew like wildfire as to there being a locario in Lake Tahoe.

Then, when I decided to place the chip in our '94 conventio auction I was faced with where to I say it was from, exactly, since the info that was being gathered as to location was all pointing to the box of chips possibly coming out of the vault in the Reno office of B.C. Wills, and the shop samples in the box were screaming "we are from Burt..." and only two other people knew what those samples were besides me... and, with all this info from some very respected members in the Hobby, not one stitch of it included any docs/proof and I decided to play it safe and call the chip a no ID for the auction and some folks were pissed because they wanted to see the chip called as Reno/Tahoe and then came the offers to change my mind which I was not interested in.

The chip was writ into the auction at a $400 opening bid with a no ID description and those who were pissed became triple pissed.

On the night of the auction just before it began, Henry, turned around in his chair in front of me and asked in front of those who I was sitting with; "pull the chip and I'll give you a grand for it right now" in front of everyone sitting on both sides of me. I politely turned down Henry's off even though he was a big buyer of whatever Nevada and Cuba I offered him.

The lot was called and someone yelled out "four hundred dollars for a chip with no ID?" and the room became still where you could heat a pin drop and the chip hammered af opening bid and Geje Grossblatt walked with it an I was very happy that it went down that was because Gene was a "big Friday night buyer" of mine and I was happy that he got it at that price and didn't have to pay a lot more and I walked away happy and the rest of the story is published and I wasn't too happy with where it was going since I was the person who introduced the chip with no ID and no information to convince me (and money doesn't convince me) as to where it was exactly from and when I noticed the ChipGuide description a few years ago I voiced my opinion here that there is no way we should list a chip thought to be from both NV and LA, as Nevada and the change was done just as I suggested it should be...

I think you would have done the same thing if you had put in as much time

as I did... and not convinced it was NV... besides, I think there is a better chance in finding a real ID now than if it was just sitting in NV.

Funny how the rest of the series popped up years later.