Without taking sides here in this squabble, I'd just like to say to Pete that he shouldn't be making so much noise for Chuck offering $50 for a very expensive chip. What was Chuck supposed to say to Maria (who I gather does a lot of chippers some nice favors),"hey, Maria, you're such a nice person I'm going to have to give you an extra $500 for that chip because I think it's pretty valuable".
Well, even though the dealers that live near any casino in the USA get most of the good chips, there are still a few around for us regular collectors who make our occasional chip runs hoping to make a find. And we do find some...and are we happy!!
Well, you can kiss all that goodbye if you start educating these cashier people too much. The casino personnel that are knowledgeable and keep the good stuff as it comes in deserves it because they have done their homework and happen to be in the right place at the right time. The same way Chuck was hoping as a walk-in hopeful.
Now, if someone came to Chuck's table at a show with the same chip in with a bunch of commons, and he told the guy they were all commons only worth face but he would be nice and give the guy $10 extra for his trouble....well, I'd have problems with that because of the outright lie. There's a little bit of trust implied here.
I don't think there's one collector out there who doesn't go to the cage hoping for a "find". Why are they any different?
Next thing you know, Maria is going to start "selling" the chips she finds and Pete's going to be criticizing her for not paying extra to the customer redeeming his chips for face. Who's the one that is supposed to be reaping the benefits here, anyway? You can criticize all the way down the line.