A few weeks ago, my wife and I returned from what has become a yearly event for us: the annual convention of the Casino Chip & Gaming Token Collectors Club. The gathering has been held in Las Vegas each year since 1993, although there were annual meetings prior to that in other locations following the founding of the club in 1988. We’ve only been attending the convention since 2002, after the casino chip collecting bug bit me in 2001. My wife wasn’t born with the collecting gene present in her DNA, but she enjoys a chance to spend a few days at Fashion Show Mall while I wander through a showroom of casino chip dealers and ogle obscure pieces of clay, plastic, metal and bone.
About the Hobby
Some consider collecting casino chips similar to collecting coins, and in fact the first few annual meetings were held at the American Numismatic Association’s annual convention. But for me, collecting casino chips is so much more interesting because of the differing elements of history and mystery the hobby contains.
Each colorful round chip (or ‘check’ in gaming terminology) has its own story, and a seemingly endless list of questions to be answered:
- When was it made? Although it’s fairly easy to answer this question for recently issued chips, for older chips collectors try to look to the manufacturer’s records, if they’re available, or to the memories of those who worked or gambled where the chip was used if they’re not.
- Who was the manufacturer? There have been several well-known manufacturers and distributors of casino chips over the years. Most chips are made using a mold that leaves a distinctive impression in the surface of the chip. By examining the mold used to make a chip the knowledgeable collector can determine the manufacturer or narrow it down to two or three manufacturers, since molds have sometimes changed hands between chip makers.
- Which casino or illegal gambling hall was it used at? This may seem like a straightforward question when the chip comes from a Las Vegas casino. But many chips have been created bearing only a club name and no city, and often this is a commonly used club name, such as “Lucky Club”. Other chips may bear only initials, which means they could have been created for some card player’s home chip set, or they may have belonged to a gambler who operated an illegal game somewhere in the country. This is where manufacturer’s records can assist in the search for the history of a chip. Some manufacturers records have been acquired by the chip collecting community and have been made available to collectors. Sadly, other chip manufacturer’s records have been lost forever.
- Who were the owners of the casino at the time? Most major Las Vegas casinos have a rich history of their ownership and the successes and failures of the men who owned them. Often the owner’s name is reflected on the chips that were issued by a casino while they owned it.
- What type of game was the chip used for? While some chips are used in various games, including blackjack and craps, other chips are sometimes issued specificallly for certain games, such as roulette, faro or poker.
- How many of the exact same kind of chip are known to exist? Unless the manufacturer’s records are available, chip collectors are often in the dark about how many of a particular chip are still in existence. Many times when a casino changed chips, the old chips were destroyed, making the only ones that still survive truly rare. In other cases, the chips were sold to the public or given to employees. Since the market value of each chip is often determined by its rarity, the uncertainty about how many of a particular chip still exists leads to frequent revisions in market value when someone’s Aunt Sally dies and the relatives find two or three hundred “rare” chip in her steamer trunk.
- How did the chip get from where it was used back then into my hand today? As mentioned above, sometimes chips are sold or given away by a casino when they’re no longer needed. And, it isn’t unusual for a gambler to carry a chip home from a gambling trip, either intentionally or otherwise. Oftentimes chips that were used in illegal games were used in more than one location.
Of course, a beginning collector may not care about answering all of these questions initially. Many collectors start out by collecting chips with a particular theme or from a specific casino. But over time most collectors want to gather as much information about their collection as they can.
Getting Started
Starting a casino chip or poker chip collection is very easy to do today, with the spread of casino gambling and the availability of thousands of chips for sale on eBay. If you start your collection by visiting a casino, you may be able to buy chips directly from the cage. However, other casinos require you to acquire them by playing at the tables. Many collectors will pick up several of the same kind of chip when they visit a casino, with the intention of trading the extras with other chip collectors for chips from other locations.
While chips used on blackjack and craps tables (“house chips”) can be obtained at the cage or by playing one of the table games, roulette chips are different. Each roulette table has its own chips that aren’t intended to leave the table. Players buy-in and receive a stack of chips in a designated color. Depending on how much the player wishes to gamble, each of the chips of their color is assigned a value. For example, one player may be using yellow chips worth fifty cents each while another player could be using red chips worth ten dollars a piece. Since the denomination is flexible, casino operators don’t want patrons walking out with a chip that they paid fifty cents for today and slipping it back into the game at a later time when the same color chip may be assigned a higher value. As a result, roulette players and the chips they are assigned are watched closely. Still, roulette chips from almost every table in the country somehow make their way out of the casinos and into the hands of chip collectors. An old roulette chip from Table 7 of the Country Club in Lake Tahoe is shown above.
A few years ago casinos began issuing chips created to commemorate events or salute people such as entertainers or casino industry figures. Often, a limited number of chips are produced and are referred to as “limited editions” or “LE’s”. An example is the Hot August Nights chip from the Bonanza in Reno shown above on the right. Another, a Cinco de Mayo chip from the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas is shown below on the left.
A Few Words About Value
This article wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t try to dazzle you with the outrageous amounts that have been paid for some of these little pieces of clay. My sources show that the most ever paid for a single casino chip is $100,000 for a $100 Sahara chip containing an image of the Sphinx. Another Sahara chip, this one a $25 chip that I personally examined, sold for $67,000. A $5 chip from the Sands sold a few years ago for $33,000.
Of course these are rare examples of chips that are unique and thought to be one-of-a-kind. However, many collectors track the market value of the chips in their collection closely. There are several sources to look to for market values of casino chips. Most serious collectors have in their possession chip guides published that list various issues of chips and assign a value to them. In the past few years there have been more and more specialized chip guides published that cover almost every state in the union.
Guides and Resources
There are two chip guides that are among the most popular and widely-circulated. The first, entitled The Chip Rack contains only chips issued in the state of Nevada, but attempts to list every chip used in every casino within the state. The second guide, entitled The Official U.S. Casino Chip Price Guide, is richly illustrated with photographs of many rare chips that most collectors will never have an opportunity to see in person.
There are also lots of free resources available for chip collectors on the internet. Here are a few sure to be in bookmarked in the browsers of most saavy collectors:
- The Chip Board – An online forum hosted by Greg Susong where chip collectors gather to discuss chips and any other topic that happens to come up. This is the place to go to ask knowledgeable collectors questions and learn more about collecting.
- The Chip Guide – Greg Susong’s online guide to chips from all parts of the U.S. with links to other guides categorized by location or chip type.
- The Casino Chip & Gaming Token Collectors Club – The home of the organization that sponsors the annual convention that we all go nuts over. There are lots of benefits to becoming a member, not the least of which is an excellent club magazine that has won numerous awards for its quality.
