I had a suspicion my question would generate some good answers. All of which I am aware of. I guess it was my mood at the time I read Don's listing of the Ebay prices being paid for a collectible; be it chips, baseball cards or Real Estate.

In Southern California, we have a rememberance of approximately 10 years ago about the "greatest fool theory." I'm sure most of you know what it was. In any case, sure enough, the real estate boom came to a halt and bankrupt the last owners of the property, the greatest fool.

It didn't affect those of us who were able to hold on until property values shot up again, but I can see the same thing happening all over again.

In any case, I never collected anything until I got into the casino chips and now I'm hooked. Really hooked. My wife says I get depressed if I miss even one day of not receiving at least one chip from the postman. And yes, I know all of the postal clerks by their first name.

But I am collecting for my personal gratification, not for resale, or for investment purposes. I see some of those chips offered for auction that are old, worn, stains etc. that have enormous values which I wouldn't trade for a current $0.25 chip. I'm probably the greatest fool, but I like handsome chips, ones with color. Ones that I can enjoy looking at. Value as far as appreciation is concerned, means absolutely nothing to me as I have no intention of reselling it.

On second thought, however, maybe it would be fun to try and sell some chips on ebay. Forget everything I said in the above paragraphs. I'm going on ebay.