Let's talk ethics.

Let me ask all of you a question. How many of you would like to "find" a chip valued at $5000 and buy it for $5. Isn't that the dream? Is that ethical? Your making a transaction you know to be weighted unfairly, but we would all do it. Some random person with a chip from grand father's estate says, "Will you give me $5 for it?" and we would all jump on the opportunity.

A friend of mine is a female security officer at the Sahara. She bought an old Sahara chip for $5 at the cage one day from a maid. She took it to the chip show and asked it's value. She did not want to sell it, she only wanted to know the value. Every single person that came in contact with her lied to her and made her an offer. They started cheap too, around $200. When she didn't sell at the show, collectors started showing up at her job to coax the chip(s) from her. (She had a warped version also she got $1,200 for) Finally, she sold the chip for quite a profit, $5,000, but, the next person who came in looking for it, upon finding out they were sold, finally told her the truth, that the chips had a value around $10,000 each. The first person who could not fleece her because the chips were sold, came clean and was honest.

These are the same people who will condemn others who make unfair transactions when it is the collector that is on the wrong end of the deal. It just depends on who the victim is. A little old lady in Missoula is happy with $5 and the collector sells for $5000. But when the collector makes a bad move, you blame the seller and talk about ethics.

There are "unscrupulous" people within the realm of your hobby who would certainly have tried to piece these Sierra Tahoes off one at a time for greater profit. They would have given less information about the number of chips found and would have eventually made early buyers mad. I did not do this.

The thread is telling people to beware of prices. I know that prices will fall when more chips are added. A very good collector friend from Pittsburg explained this to me the night we discovered they are quite valuable in the chip collecting industry. I do not know how far prices will fall. I believe the value is set when people buy them. I have not tried to mislead anyone. I started those auctions at low value from The Official U.S. Casino Chip Price Guide (because I didn't own a copy of The Chip Rack yet) and they sold for around that price. If that is not proper value then I do not know what is.

These chips are pretty. Follow the ebay links in the threads and look at the images. 200 dpi is better than a loop.

I want a fair price for a pretty chip. Beware and be careful with every transaction you make. If you would like to own a piece of Incline Village history, contact me. The nicest ones are going first.

And thank you Mr. Campiglia for treating me with respect. There are many who have told me that your book is self serving, keeping your own collection valuable, but in my opinion, you are stimulating an industry with cutting edge prices in order to create sales and trades to broaden the scope of the hobby. Mr. Scott Hartman wanted to trade me a set of three Sierra Tahoes for a Sahara Bicentennial chip, $4,600 value from my end for a $300 - $500 value on his. Who should you beware of? Me? That, by the way, was his final offer.

Thanks for reading if you've made it this far.
Fred Roach