I was fortunate to recruit several new members to the Club
for the year 2003 and I was awarded this certificate. I can't offer any
incentives, like free chips, but I will answer questions as best I can. If you
happen to contact me and I'm able to help you to the point where you decide to
join the Club, please use me as your referrer. It's a simple thing to do, I get
nothing out of it except the knowledge that I have helped the hobby grow.
If you want links
to casinos, check out JoeAnt.com, and enter
"casino" in your search. Try the links,
enjoy your visit, and email me with any questions.
The Chips
At first glance, casino chips (cheques
or checks) seem very similar in design and appearance, differing only in color
and casino logo. Upon closer inspection you can see wide variety of colors,
inlay designs, mold types, and inserts. I'll talk about these in a moment. The
differences can be as slight as the number of lines in a "$" sign, or
a "_" under the trailing zeroes in the denomination, or even the size
of the lettering in an inlay. These differences may seem insignificant, but they
play a part in determining the rarity, value, and the ability to date when the
chip was made...neat stuff.
First things first...the term chip
refers to a gaming counter that has no marked value. The value is determined at
the time of play. For example, roulette chips can change value at any time. The
casino can simply increase or decrease the value at the table. You can see the
value when you approach the table to play.
The term cheque or check refers
to a gaming counter that has a set value marked on it somewhere. These are bet
at "face value" in games such as blackjack and craps. These are
considered as cash to the casinos.
Most people use these terms
interchangeably, including me, and while technically incorrect, I'm not going to
argue about it here, nor am I going to change the name of my website!
Let's look at the most common of
chips (checks), the clay (composition) chip. There are four basic elements in
the make up of this type of chip:
The Base Color is the dominant color
in the body of the chip.
The Inlay can be made of paper,
plasticized paper, metal or other type of material. This is where you typically
find the casino name, logo, value, even designs. There are several type of inlay
shapes and sizes as well. There is also a variation called a Hot
Stamp, where the
names, values,...etc. are set in a foil and stamped into the chip. Typically the
color of the stamp is gold, but there are varying colors available, see my Cal
Neva Lodge Gallery picture for examples. There is another example of a Hot
Stamp below.
The Mold is a pattern that is
"molded" into rim of the chip, between the edge and the inlay. There
are "house" molds and distributor molds. This also helps in
"dating" a chip. For more information about chip
molds, check out this page
from Robert Eisenstadt's web-site.
The Inserts, or edge spots, are
areas of color made into the side of the chip. The color goes through the check,
it's not simply painted on the surface. Once again, there are many types of
inserts, varying by number, size, "split", shape, and color
orientation.
For the casinos, these variations
have their purposes. One being the ease of differentiating the denominations of
the chips, another to help deter counterfeiting.
To the right is an example of a Hot
Stamp chip. Once again, there are inserts, a mold, and of course the base
color. This time there is no inlay, but a stamp of the casino's choice. Hot Stamps can be designs, logos, denominations, and names - whatever can be
produced for the casino.
Here is another type of chip you will find, a PMSC or
metal slug core. These chips have a metal core that contain the designs, denominations, and
inserts. Colored plastic is injected around the core, leaving only the raised
details showing. These are handsome ( and heavy) chips. The example I have
chosen is an error chip, one that was not supposed to be. It is a somewhat
scarce and valuable chip.
Here are more examples of chips that you will come across in
your chipping travels.
Crest and Seal- These are very simple yet elegant chips with a smooth
surface. They also can have a metal wafer inlay. Rich Hanover has an
incredible collection of these chips.
Bourgogne et Grasset- Notice the
multi-color graphic that goes to the rim. These are very striking chips
that are very popular among collectors.
Bud Jones- These chips will have a variety of inserts to
deter counterfeiting. They are also made with a coin inlay centers.
Ok...remember what I was talking
about earlier? The subtle differences between chips that look similar? Check the
image below and see if you find what's different about them. Thanks to Allan
Myers for providing me with these chips. They came in very handy just for this
little example.
They look the same don't they? Well...except for one little
detail, they are! If you were not able to see the difference, here you go. Look
at the inserts. Now locate the red one, and look at the insert that is on the
opposite side. It's a different color on each chip. There is another variation
of this chip that I don't have...yet. It's more of an error as it has two green
inserts and no black.
Here's another example and it just happens to be from my
favorite casino. Once again the difference is subtle, can you find it?
Ok...I know one is dirtier than the other, that happens...but
what is the difference? Look at the Golden Nugget logo. Now look just below it
and to the right. The chip on the left has the trademark indicator. As my
collection grows, I'll add more examples. I don't want to use other collector's scans
unless I get their permission.
Now here is one even more recent. Here are three Halloween
chips from the Four Queens, made for 3 consecutive years. I'm not going to tell
what the differences are...heh,heh. See if you can find them. Some are easier to
spot. I'll give one hint. You need to look at the numbers on the roulette wheel.
Once again, we have an example of the minor changes between like chips. Consider
that there over 22,000 documented chips for Nevada alone, not including the
hundreds of unknowns waiting to be found. Then you run into varieties like the
ones I've listed on this page and you get an understanding of the huge
undertaking of listing all of these chips and gain an appreciation for the
authors of the books listed above. This image was courtesy of Andy Hughes and his awesome Nevada
Casino Chips website. Andy packs a ton of info in his site and it is definitely
worth a visit. He also has many very nice chips for sale.
There are so many chips to see...and
discover! For more detailed descriptions of molds, inlay types, and
inserts...you need to get this book: A Collector's Guide to Nevada Gaming
Checks and Chips, by Howard and Kregg Herz. Many of the terms used in my
examples came from this book. As a value guide, it's a bit out
of date but for background information it is a tremendous tool to have.
Chip Cleaning
This is a hotly debated topic. There are some collectors who
clean every chip in their collection, while others never do. You can do what you
want, but let's look at some information.
The grime that collects on chips comes from many sources
including dirt, beverages, cigarette ashes and other stuff too gross to mention!
This build-up is called "patina". Let's face it...chips can get
nasty!
Now here is my opinion. I like nice clean chips, but I also
don't mind grimy old chips either. In fact, I liken the patina to a martial
artist not cleaning his/her belt. All of the knowledge obtained is included in
the belt. All of the stories of won/lost hands...spins of the wheel...bluffs and
folds...it's all there in the patina of the chip.
Cleaning a chip does not improve it's condition or value, but it
does increase the eye appeal. I recently won a Kentucky Club illegal that was
pretty dirty. I have red and yellow versions already that look quite good
and I wanted them all to look that way, so for the first time, I cleaned a chip!
The results are to the right...not bad huh? I used Armor-All and a soft bristle
toothbrush to do the job. While I'm not planning to clean many more chips, I am
very happy with how it turned out.
Use care cleaning hot-stamps though...the stamp is very
delicate and can be removed along with the dirt. Clean a small area at a time.
If you decide to clean your chips, good luck!
Display and Storage
You are only limited by your
imagination regarding how you wish to display your chips. I have seen frames,
shadow boxes, even clocks! The convention issue of the Club magazine contains
photos of some very creative displays. Some contained chips from one specific
casino, others displayed chips from specific areas.
There is a 35 chip set of Hard Rock roulettes just waiting to be put on the
wall!
How you store your chips is, once
again, up to you. There are racks, cardboard flips, vinyl flips, air-tite
capsules, binders, plastic tubes, cardboard boxes, sliding trays...the list goes
on. Available space is usually the biggest concern. To check out the many
options you have, see the Supplies Section on my Links
Page. There are several dealers to choose from and each one has a variety of
storage devices available.
Below are examples of storage and
display devices. I am providing a link to the site where each image was obtained.
Space is my biggest problem right now,
so I have the majority of my chips in 2.5" x 2.5" cardboard flips
which are then stored alphabetically in red cardboard boxes that have two rows
in them. These boxes hold about 150 chips each. Chips that I haven't catalogued
yet are staged in old wooden casino chip racks that hold 100 chips each. I also
use them to hold my full 100 chip lots (Harrah's $1 Brass cores)
and my traders.
My nicer chips are placed in Dansco
Albums. These contain 5 to 7 pages, 9 chips per page, and will hold between 45
and 63 chips, depending on the width of the binder. These albums use thick pages
with 39mm cutouts for the chips. A clear sheet of acetate slides over the front
and back of each row of chips, allowing for viewing. There are several sizes of
cutouts available that will accommodate chips, coins, tokens, and over-sized
chips. The albums are a bit expensive but well worth the cost to protect my more
valuable chips.
Keep checking this page often as
I'll soon be adding an organized glossary of terms.
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