[gmunny]

I guess I should add to thread, though I would stil like to know what chip it was. Here are few things that I look for when I see a supposedly rare chip for sale, but the price is still low.

Check the sellers feedback, go back as far as you can go. A lot of sellers will sell the chip, then re-list it the next day. If you see a supposedly R7 chip being sold by a dealer 4 times in the last month, it probably isn't a R7 anymore.

Do a search on the "completed" ebay auctions. This is pretty limited, but it will tell you how many sold in the last week or so.

Ask the seller before you bid how many they have. Sometimes you get a response, sometimes not.

Keep up with ebay sales of chips that you are interested in and even those you aren't. You never know when you change your collection focus. For the last 9 months, I've kept up with most of the large $ chip sales and can usually tell if there is a lot of one chip vs another.

If the chip is rare and its supposedly worth $2k and bidding has been slow, this may be a warning flag. There are so many big $ collectors and also dealers on ebay. Believe me, you may get a little lucky on a chip here or there, but you usually will not get lucky on an expensive chip. Some people may snipe, but I see the $ values usually go up fast for the rare expensive chips.

Finally, you can post questions here or on the chipboard. We have a few knowlegable people here on CT like Jim, Jay, Von and others. Happy chipping!