He’s done auctions a few times since the brazen Indiana Grand flipping. I’m sure seeing a rack of the blaze bear claws at auction going for an absurd amount a week after sale, along with other such chips, was a point where he just said “fuck it”. You could argue WWs WTB for Jack Cinci snappers at $800-$1k an hour into the sale sparked the thought, IG confirmed it.
He’s auctioned solid mint roulettes, Lake Elsinore denoms, etc. after letting people cherry pick chips before sales for a long time before this latest one. That was well over a year ago.
The reality is he is profit motivated. Just like NAGB runners and 99% of chip vendors. Not sure where this idea of chip count transparency before sales came from, but I can’t remember ever seeing it from any official vendor. It’s a nice thing to hope for and want, but until we see someone do it, it’s just talk IMO.
Hope to get some $1s from the sale!