I believe that James is pretty knowledgeable and in tune with the hobby, quite even an expert in the field. I do also believe that printed price guides are just that, the authors opinion on value at the time of printing.

Rarity of chips is a very subjective thing. In days past we could go to the NGC website and see how many chips were produced by a casino or look at a TRK sales card but do we really accept value on things?

I love it when a chip can be a X rated chip in TCR for years knowing that a small number were produced and when a rack or barrel surfaces suddenly those that have never wanted to pay the price for a chip knowing that there was a limited amount even produced now say the value is now 25%. Or better yet, and my favorite one, "Hey I know you paid $10 for that chip valued at $200 but I'd never pay you $150 for it".

Value is subjective at best and a chip to me is worth what a buyer will pay. I find Worthpoint.com is the best guide as they report on ACTUAL SALES going back years. Which i know is also subjective as private sales aren't listed there but I'm not a person who is willing to pay thousands for a single chip.

Is James book "Official"? Yep! It is. Official to the group that believes in his research and information. The rarity portion and history is more important that the opinion of value published.

At PokerChipper We're working on an electronic past sale and rarity guide assisted by AI that may be ground breaking!! Hopefully it will be available (at least in beta) in the year to come as I believe past sales data from many sources is key in placing value trends on chips and casino artifacts which we all know fluctuate daily! (sometimes by mood)