[imthatguy]

Not my auction, but wanted to bid, but I'dlike to get some second opinions before I do so. See anything strange?

Link

[cpiaaq]

I don't really know anything about this chip (in general) or this chip (specifically) but it does seem strange that there is black around the outside of all the edge spots.

[tonypap]

something is wrong for sure. edgespots look like they are painted on, inlay looks off. I would stay away, unless you know for sure.

[joshuadalton]

Looks completely fake to me.

[imthatguy]

So I'm not crazy then! I thought there was something wrong there... Too bad, I'm looking for one of these chips.

[4ceps]

http://www.oldvegaschips.com/castaways2.htm

i'm not really a chipper, but the images look pretty close

it's possible the dark band may be from overuse, causing the ink to rub off. you see that on image in my link

it looks like the old castaways used many suppliers for their chips

[jamby]

Silver State Treasures has scans of both the uncancelled and cancelled versions of this chip here: http://www.silver-state-treasures.co...s/castaway.htm.

I don't really see anything amiss in the ebay auction. My guess is that the 'black' is either shadow from the scan or from wear.

Here they are side by side - ebay on left and sst uncancelled on right.

[dinghovery]

The seller appears to have a good history, so if there were any problems it wouldn't appear to be him who knew about it. I always wonder why people make auctions private though like this one is...

[AlbinoDragon]

You can see the pixelated edge of the "inlay" where it was cut and pasted in Photoshop. The rest of the image is higher resolution than that of the inlay. It was cut out of another image (probably magic wand), enlarged to fit the chip and pasted on. If it were legit, you'd see the same pixelated edge of the whole chip. It also looks like the "inlay" was rotated to match the orientation of the chip. The least they could have done was line it up better!

I can't comment too much on the edge spots I'm no expert on chips, but they just don't look right either. Too bright compared to the other scans quoted here. The white is too white and the red is WAY too red. We're not even going to touch the fact that they end before the edge of the chip (the black band).

I do a lot of Photoshop work. Helped a co-worker with all of the illustrations in his book. I'm sensitive to these things....

[EDIT] It's strange that he has this as the rest of his scans and auctions look OK. The scan for this one is just strange. Weird thing to do (or try to do) with a perfect feedback (>400). Hmmmm.

[MasterBrewer]

Originally Posted by AlbinoDragon

You can see the pixelated edge of the "inlay" where it was cut and pasted in Photoshop. The rest of the image is higher resolution than that of the inlay. It was cut out of another image (probably magic wand), enlarged to fit the chip and pasted on. If it were legit, you'd see the same pixelated edge of the whole chip. It also looks like the "inlay" was rotated to match the orientation of the chip. The least they could have done was line it up better!

Actually this isnt necessarily true. I'm definitely no chip collecting expert, so I can't really say much about this chip. However, I can say that the pixelated look can in fact happen straight from the factory. Take a look at the custom ASMs I had made. The "pixelation" is actually extra pieces of the clay base that weren't completely removed when the inlay was punched with texture. You can see it best in the 100 and 500 chips in this image of my customs:

http://img441.imageshack.us/my.php?image=asmscanbb8.jpg

Again, that doesn't necessarily mean it ISNT fake... just saying the inlay could look like that and have it still be real. If this were a chip being marketed as used, I would agree that this would be shady looking because all those extra parts of the inlay do flake off with time and use.