Your absolutely right KD! My first strike a $7.00 NCM from the Laughlin Ramada Express was "given" to me by a friend many years ago. I was immediately fascinated by it and "vowed" to find more to look at. A new "collector" was born! Upon recently returning from Las Vegas my wife asked me if I had an extra strike that was disposable as she wanted to give her "casino boss" a memento from our trip. I gave her a nice new shiney New York-New York Millennium in a new case to give him. Now, he is a "coin" collector but was really fascinated by this silver strike and now can't wait to get to Vegas to try for some more. A "new" collector is born!!! What goes around comes around. The more new collectors that come on board the more valuable all of our collections become because as you say the original and now obsolete strikes are going to become scarcer and scarcer the same way all those Baseball Cards you and I threw out as kids we wish we still had! Enjoy the hobby all...............Dick Maheu in New Mexico