by Neal Silverman and Marty Kaplan
When I was younger, the Friday night poker game was an event. And though the stakes may have stayed the same, it was somehow a "bigger" event when someone had a rack of chips to use. Using chips allowed nickel and dime poker to take on the look and feel of the "big" game.
Somewhere between then and now we—the chips and me—both grew up.
I'm not quite sure when it happened, but those little round pseudo-coins evolved from being a great add-on to the Friday night, kitchen table game to become one of the hottest collectibles around. As for me, I started out playing to accumulate more chips so that I could cash them in. I wound up "harvesting" roulette chips to complete a set. Cash them in? No way! These little babies were going home with Poppa!
We Are Not Alone
It's not just me, though for a very long time I thought it was. It wasn’t planned—my wife and I just started bringing back a few chips as souvenirs from vacations and trips to Atlantic City. After all, they were from casinos we had been too and we’d left so many of their cousins behind! We never really thought about the casino chip’s seemingly natural ability to appreciate in value or its inherent value as a collectible item.
Gambling was legalized in Nevada in the early 1930s and chip collecting began about a minute or two later. There were, of course, chips and checks in casinos long before Nevada adopted gambling. Chips were used in clubs, both legal and illegal, around the world. But modern day collecting really started in the United States when Las Vegas came into existence. Those round pieces of clay carried with them the excitement and the glamour of gaming. The history of the towns, the casinos, and of the gangsters’ sweat—maybe, just maybe, Bugsy Siegel sat a table and played with this very chip—made them irresistible to collectors.
It should be noted that chips (without a denomination) and checks (with denominations) are different. Games like roulette use chips (no denomination), whereas blackjack and craps use checks (with a denomination). Today, however, the generally accepted term is "chips," meaning chips, checks or cheques. (I prefer "chip collector" because "check collector" sounds a little too much like a real job.)
Over the years, chips have been made from ivory, wood, clay compositions, and today’s resins. In 1987, Chipco International pioneered full color graphic design of casino checks, and is clearly responsible for some of the most striking chip designs on gaming tables today. The popularity of commemorative chips is tied to Chipco’s ability to produce these outstanding graphics on their checks.
Chipco’s technological innovations built upon the almost half a century of chip manufacturing by The Paulson Dice & Card Company, masters of the compression-molded clay chip. Though both companies have produced fine products over the years, Chipco has taken a very active role in support of the chip collecting hobby, going so far as to include chip collecting in the sales presentation on their website.
With the booming popularity of gambling in this country, casino checks have blossomed from once plain, stamped or imprinted checks into charismatic works of art, commemorating just about anything you can think of: events and celebrities, casino openings, sports figures, classic cars, beauty queens, cartoon characters, poker tournaments—and the list goes on. Both Miss America and Miss Hawaiian Tropics have made it into gaming history, as have Willie Mays, Bill Cosby, George Burns, and the winner of the World Series of Poker. If it can be celebrated, casino checks will likely commemorate it.
Supply and Demand
Recently I took a non-chip collecting friend (I still have a few of those) to Atlantic City. Bally's was releasing a new commemorative chip for play in the casino. In Atlantic City, you cannot simply walk up to the cashier and buy chips—you have to purchase them at a gaming table.
We arrived at the casino, and it was easy for me to locate where the new chips were going to be released. Off to the side of the casino floor, surrounded by idle blackjack tables, was a single table with a hefty crowd of people around it.
My friend said, "Look at the crowd. Somebody must be on one hell of a roll."
Trust me folks, the crowd had nothing to do with a roll. It was a bunch of casino chip collectors and chip dealers surrounding an actionless blackjack table. Actionless, that is, until the table was opened for the sale of chips. Stacks were bought instantly by dealers who needed inventory, and by collectors wanting this latest commemorative edition to keep their collection complete. It reminded me of the commodities exchange.
Conventional wisdom says there should be enough to go around when a new check is issued. I guess that used to be the case, but in today’s world, many casinos release chips in limited editions (LE’s), to further enhance their collectability. In some cases, the checks are even numbered. It’s a method of production that works—casino goers and chip collectors alike are buying them up in record numbers. And, just like in the art community, when the supply is cut, it tends to keep prices up.
I Want Them All
With the number and variety of chips being issued, collecting all chips and checks is becoming almost impossible. As a result, collectors have begun to specialize.
Casino checks can be grouped by geography (collecting only Nevada checks, or Atlantic City, or the Caribbean, or even more specifically, the Dutch Caribbean). Still others focus on roulette chips, or Indian casinos, or riverboats, or illegal gaming clubs. Clearly, some of the richest history comes from the stories of the illegal clubs and the search to find and identify such chips.
The Internet has brought information closer to us all, and the area of chip collecting is no exception. One collector, Ed Hertel, is continually researching and compiling information on "illegals." His website, www.chipster.net/history.htm, is a state-by-state motherlode for the chipper interested in illegals. Continued on...
