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Originally Posted by noelsarchs Slabs are a collectors nightmare. They are chips encased in a block of acrylic, plastic, or something like that.
Horrible.
And the worst part is that the slabbers do not admit it freely and it's so wrong. |
Unfortunaely, its a bit more complicated than that.
The basics are this:
In other areas of collectibles, some hobbyists are of the opinion that when "slabbing" came into their hobby, their hobby got ruined. "Slabbing" is where the collectible is evaluated and graded by a third party (for money) and that the third party then encapsulates the item into a plastic case so as to prevent tampering. This then maintains the item to the stated grade.
This happens to coins, all the time, because it also helps protect the coin from air and other physical damage. This often happens to baseball (and other sport) cards, even comic books, baseballs and the like.
One of the off-shoots of slabbing is that it allows investors into the hobby, which then makes it not a hobby. If people acquire simply for the potential of getting money and could careless about the item, then to hobby pureists, they are not welcome. Some will do everything within their power to prevent investment interests.
Another element of slabbing is that if you collect chips, you should be self-aware of the grade of the chips you have. Why would one need to have a chip graded (for a fee) if they are a sincere hobbyist, is the logic given. Also, if you collect chips, you should be self-aware to do you own grading at the time you are interested in buying, trading or otherwise getting a chip. Why pay for what you should know?
Additionally, one of the underlying problems with grading companies is that they profess to "guarantee" everything, but in reality they are responsible for absolutely nothing. If a grade is wrong, then they only need to say that they did their best. Sorry, we did our best, but I guess it was wrong. But you never get your money back.
Lastly, another issue with chip slabbing is that the act of slabbing makes the chip so that you can't hold it. Many collectors like to touch and feel their chips. Even that $100,000 Stupak chip can be held in the palm of your hand, but not if it gets slabbed.
Well, these are just tidbits of the overall issue. You also have to keep in mind that for those discussing the issues, there is a history there.
Jim (Gaming Ore) Follis
10/5/07
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