LOL! Well, John, the George's Gateway chips "went for" some of yours! Thanks again for the trade!

You make an interesting point about collectors not necessarily wanting to tell us about "steals." No one wants to see his chips devalued because he managed to get them at a good price or at a flea market. But it happens. That's why we rely mostly on public prices and actually-observed sales, rather than reports of sales.

Reports are pretty easy to manipulate, too. Ever talk with someone who said "I just got $500 for this chip." What was the answer when you said, "You mean $500 cash?" I've heard things like "Well, no. It was $100 in cash, three chips I needed, and two future draft picks to be named at a later date. He wanted to give me his bratty kid as part of the trade, but I managed to weasel out of that one." <G>

Thing is, it's sort of a double standard, isn't it? If you get a great buy at a flea market, no one knows what you paid for a chip. If you get a great deal because no one happens to be bidding against you in an auction, the whole world (including the TCR authors!) knows about it, and the value is affected.

Can't think of a better way to do it, though.

Oh, and BTW, I ain't THAT old! The only living human beings who admit to being collectors in the "stack for a stack" days are Landau and Jung, who have been known to scavenge a few garbage cans to come up with the stuff in their stacks! <G>

Michael