Casino Player May 2000 Issue

This should be easy. I mean, “Chips are chips, right?” “Each casino has their own design and that’s it, end of story?”
“Oh yeah, denominations. Forgot about denominations. So each casino has one of each denomination. One type of $1 chip, one type of $5 chip, got it?”
All wrong.

Yes, there was a time when more than one kind of chip on a table meant go get the onion dip, but that changed along the way. In today’s burgeoning world of gaming, a casino might typically have several varieties of chips on the casino floor at any time.

Rack checks/chips for general play
Roulette chips are different from casino checks because they are printed without denominations. Baccarat chips are usually 44mm in diameter, as opposed to rack chips with a 39mm diameter.

Collecting checks would still be a snap if we could stop here. However, it seems that casinos realized somewhat before we did that people and players liked to take home souvenirs. The prettier the casino checks, the more likely we were to pack one alongside the ash tray, towel and the occasional ice bucket.

Born from this was the “Commemorative Chip.” These special chips were produced to celebrate very special events: entertainment superstars headlining at the hotel, championship boxing matches, hotel anniversaries, and holidays. The more commemoratives they produced, the more we scoffed them up and took them home.

When they ran out of holidays, the casinos designed chips celebrating cars, planes, balloons, balloon races, showgirls…the Sands even commemorated their buffet!
Commemoratives themselves have distinct categories, the best example of which would be “Celebrity Chips.”

Celebrity Chips began with the superstars of entertainment and sports like Frank Sinatra, George Burns, and Willie Mays, for whom Bally’s issued a four-chip set highlighting different accomplishments of the Say Hey Kid’s career. Celebrities chips have grown—ok, maybe it’s more like stretched than grown—to include bigger people from smaller circles: poker tournament winners, lounge acts, race car drivers (other than Richard Petty), Miss Hawaiian Tropic (several times)…The Riviera in Las Vegas even saw fit to produce a three-chip set of porn stars.

To further enhance the collectability of their casino’s chips, some casinos issued their commemoratives in very small quantities and declared them “Limited Editions.” In some cases, the mintage was as low as 75 chips. With several thousand collectors out there (and now you, too), 75 chips won’t go very far. This instant scarcity assured that the law of supply and demand would have those chips leaving the casino in short order.

A word here about mintage. There are more $1 chip collectors out there than $5 collectors. Similarly, there are more $5 collectors than $25 collectors, and so on. A Limited Edition $1 chip with a mintage of 2,000 will probably sell out about as quickly as a $25 LE with a mintage of 250. Take a look at Atlantic City’s Claridge Hotel. The Claridge released a $10 July 4th Commemorative with a fairly small mintage. Within weeks, those $10 chips were selling for as much as $50!

So where are we? We have different kinds of casino checks:

Rack Chips: General play chips
Limited Editions: Casino limits the quantity minted
Commemoratives: Chips celebrating a person, place or thing
Celebrity Chips: Chips featuring a celebrated person or entertainment group
Illegals: Chips used at an illegal gambling club
Plaques and Jetons: A more international variety of casino checks
Roulette Chips: Usually without a denomination; six or seven colors per table
Baccarat Chips: Often larger (a 44mm diameter vs. 39mm diameter)
Tournament/Match Play Chips: Used in poker tournaments, etc.

Casino chips have an appeal all their own. It is a varied appeal, and not necessarily the same appeal to all who participate. For some it is the “gangster sweat” on the older and illegal chip varieties; to others, it is simply a financial aspect. Casino chips tend to appreciate, especially when they become obsolete as a result of a casino changing their chips, their name, or closing their doors for good.

While many of us are enamored with the very colorful commemoratives of today, there are others who hunt for older chips—chips simpler in appearance and design, but far more colorful in the story they tell. Chips found in flea markets, garage sales or someone’s dresser drawer. Chips that come complete with the story of where they came from and how they got here, and in some cases, the story of gambling in part of America. If you look through our website, Chequers (www.chequers.com), you will find stories by Gene Trimble, among others, that tell the tale of early casino gaming in Nevada and at the same time authenticate the chips from there.

However, the first stumpers on that list are the plaques and jetons. We all remember seeing James Bond suavely handling casino plaques, and he certainly looked far more dapper than we do fumbling our chips. So where are those plaques when we need them? And what is a “jeton,” anyway?

According to John Benedict, a collector of international jetons and plaques (and quite the authority on the topic), “Gambling jurisdictions in Europe, Asia and South America continue to follow old world charm with their gaming pieces being the larger plaques and chips. Historically, mother-of-pearl from the South China Sea was harvested to cut and shape gaming pieces which fit quite well on the large gaming tables.”

Benedict adds, “Though the style of plaques and jetons never did catch on in the United States, there were a few casinos in Las Vegas that have incorporated their use into European-style games of roulette and baccarat. Most recently, Paris Las Vegas outfitted their French roulette tables with a full line of jetons and plaques. Though casinos worldwide come and go, it seems that the old world charm of plaques and jetons is here to stay.”
One little note: There are other types of casino chips as well. But there are other months and we’ll get to everything in time.

As for the jeton, Benedict made it easy: “Jetons (meaning ‘token’) is the term used in French, German and Flemish-speaking countries.” Benedict has a habit of doing that. He, too, can be found on Chequers, where he has prepared a great pictorial explaining plaques and jetons. ´

Upcoming Event
The Casino Chips & Gaming Tokens Collectors Club (CC&GTCC) will hold their 8th Annual Convention July 19-22, 2000, at the Tropicana in Las Vegas. If chip collecting has caught your attention, this show is not to be missed.

Neal and Marty are chip collectors dedicated to promoting the hobby, particularly through the Internet. They can be reached by email (Neal@chequers.com; Marty@chequers.com), or through their website, Chequers (www.chequers.com).