"Maybe the club could do it to add to their revenues."....

I fail to see how the club could increase its revenues by publishing such a book of information for free on a website. Who would do all the work? Who do we think is "the club"? "The club" is all those members who belong to it and the relatively few members who DO write and publish books on our collectibles.

Just my peronal opinion... but most authors of books in this hobby (chips, tokens, silver strikes, etc.) go through all the work and expense of producing such reference works, primarily for the benefit of other collectors who share the same interests. Very few of these authors realize any sizeable profit from the sale of these very limited small numbers of books. It's really a labor of love. Without them, there would be very little (or much less) interest in these collecting areas. Everytime a new book is published, it generates additional interest in that aspect of our hobby and attracts newcomers to our fold. In my opinon, we should be encouraging MORE books to be published, not less.

I'm also grateful to those individuals who have developed their own personal websites and who share their information with others for free.

A lot of work goes into setting up and maintaining websites ... which does very little to benefit the person who owns it ... except for the purpose of advertising their inventory for occassional sale and gaining some personal satisfaction and perhaps some ego massaging benfit.

Regarding price guides ....; Yes, price guides are just that ... GUIDES. Nothing is cast in stone that a particular price cited in one reference must be sold at that price. They are intended to be estimates of value, based on that author's experience.

Do strikes sell at auction on ebay and jackpot at less than catalog? Yes, lots of times they do. Sometimes they sell for more than catalog estimates. Ebay and Jackpot are not retail price outlets by dealers. They are for the most part outlets for hobbyists to dispose of unwanted, or uneeded inventory at discount ... or someone disposing of a no longer wanted collection. There is a difference between auctions and retail prices by established dealers ... as there should be.

My post is not meant to be argumentive..., simply an expression of my personal opinion and hobby experiences. Readers are welcome to agree or disagree with anything I've said and express their personal thoughts as well.