Determining Value
Since most casinos do not give away checks to promote friendship, casino checks generally have to be purchased. Someone has to go to the casino, buy the checks, and bring them home. The cost of that chip or check just went up.
If the chip is a commemorative, and has full-color graphics, the value increases.
If the chip is a limited edition, in a particularly small release, the value increases again.
If the public falls in love with the chip, as with Caesars Palace’s George Burns chip a few years ago, the value really increases.
If a casino changes their standard "rack" chips to a new design, thereby making the old chips obsolete, the older chips go up in value. In fact, in some jurisdictions, casino are required to destroy chips and checks that are removed from play. You guessed it—the value goes up again.
If a casino is sold, renamed, imploded or otherwise closed, and the scarcity of the casino check from that casino is enhanced, so is the value.
Most chips, given time, do tend to go up in value. However, there are fewer collectors of large denomination checks, and as a result, they tend to appreciate less. In fact, larger denomination checks can often depreciate and remain one of the few financial blackmarks against the hobby. The drop off is fairly ever after $25 checks. The road signs are clear—higher denomination checks should be gone after with caution by the new collector.
While we are talking about value, we should discuss chip condition. There is an ongoing debate within the chipping community whether or not chip condition notated in a grading system is necessary, or even wanted. It is a balance that only the buyer can put a value on.
Sure, everything being equal, you would want the check in better condition, but things are rarely ever equal. Sometimes a rare chip in decidedly poor condition is still worth more to you because you need or want it. The scarcity has overpowered the condition in determining the price. I have a chip in my collection that had been canceled with an indelible mark on the reverse side. I paid close to full price for it because I had been looking for it at chips shows and could never find it. Any condition was better than no condition at all.
And if at a garage sale, a flea market, or in Aunt Martha’s attic, you should find a small box of 100 chips with an unknown name pressed into them for which you pay very little—and should research reliably identify those chips as a new find—not only will you feel great, you can say Helloooo Aruba! with the profits.
Finding Other Collectors
A little over four years ago, Marty Kaplan and I created a web presence called Chequers—The Home of Chips and Tokens on the Web (www.chequers.com). By design, the site is a central location for "electronic chippers" to meet, find each other, trade, advertise, and learn about the hobby. Today, Chequers is looked upon as the grand daddy of web chipping sites, offering such great features as more than 30 pages of book reviews by Michael Knapp, one of the foremost authorities on the hobby today. Articles, updates and educational pieces are contributed by 24 of the brightest writers in chipping.
Perhaps Chequers’ most important feature is ChequersDirect. This is the listing of electronic chippers. You can find people to trade with, or let them find you—and it’s all free.
Long before there was electronic chipping, however, a group of people led by Archie Black created a club for chip collectors: The Casino Chip & Gaming Token Collectors Club (CC>CC). Today, the CC>CC has well over 2,000 members, a quarterly magazine, a web site (www.ccgtcc.com), a code of ethics for members, and a fabulous three-day annual convention held in Las Vegas. The 2000 convention is being billed as the largest gaming collectible show of its kind, and will be held at the Tropicana, July 19—22. This show has it all—live auctions, a show floor with over 90 dealers present, a poker tournament, workshops, focus groups, seminars, and chips, chips, checks and more chips. The convention is free for club members. If you are intent on joining this hobby, membership in the CC>CC is a good place to start, and this show is a must.
Where Do You Find the Chips?
Many chip dealers offer a new issue service on a subscription basis. They take the trip to the casino for you, and you receive each new chip that comes out. They generally charge $2 to $3 for a $1 chip; $8 to $10 for a $5 chip; and $30 to $33 for a $25 chip. As roulette chips are somewhat harder to acquire, their price can be $5 to $7 each. Remember roulette chips do not have a denomination imprinted on them and, as a result, the casinos are far more vigilant (and cranky) when you squirrel away one or two in your pocket.
If you happen to live on the East Coast and you like the Hard Rock Casino’s chips, a new issue service is the way to go. On the other hand, if you live in Henderson, NV, it’s easy enough to pick them up yourself. The reality is that most casinos are located in resort areas, and most of us have to travel to get to them. Given the frequency with which the casinos release new chips, it is impractical to personally go and get each one.
Chips, old and new, can be found on the Internet’s online auctions, at places like eBay and Amazon. You can, on any given evening, find a surprisingly large assortment of quality, desirable scarcity chips up for auction. Find the auctions you are interested in, research the chip using one of the price guides (or a chip guide, if price information is unavailable), and bid away.
Be aware that you will also find "Fantasy" chips. Fantasy chips are manufactured for home use. They have a realistic look, feel and weight when compared to casino chips, and are generally available through the manufacturers or through a reputable dealer at very inexpensive prices (usually less than a dollar per chip).
In an auction, it is caveat emptor, let the buyer beware. You will find Fantasy chips being offered at unreasonably high prices. Often they are purported to be from the set of a James Bond film, or some other equally exotic locale. The best answer to this problem is a little quick research. The CC>CC website has a section devoted to Fantasy chips. If you find it there, don’t buy it, except for home use. The CC>CC Fantasy Section has saved many an unsuspecting collector from buying an illusion rather than a collectible.
Who’s Out There
You can trade with other collectors. But how do you find them?
If you are an electronic chipper—a cyberchipper—you can go to Chequers and take advantage of the facilities. Visit the chippers registry, ChequersDirect, and search for people with similar interests. There are over 600 fellow chippers listed in a mini online phone book format. All of them have a variety of special interests. One mouse click, and you can send someone an email directly.
You can also place free classifieds on either of Chequers’ two bulletin boards, the "Trading Posts" or "ChequeList." Or, you can visit "The Boardwalk" and link to the best of the chip collecting bulletin boards on the Web.
One site to visit is Greg Susong’s "TheChipBoard." It’s a very busy site that is read by cyberchippers daily. Put on the coffee before you get started, though—there are usually a lot of messages to read, and they’re all about chip collecting.
Even if you’ve avoided the World Wide Web, you can still find valuable information and other collectors. Through the CC>CC’s quarterly publication, you can advertise, respond to ads, go to the annual convention, or join one of the club’s regional chapters. Some of these chapters are very active. With over 300 hundred members, the largest chapter is Atlantic City. They meet every other month with trading sessions and an auction.
Required Reading
Chip collecting is a small hobby that is getting bigger. It has already accumulated a wealth of published knowledge by some very talented people. There are price guides for different types of chips, for different parts of the world, as well as stories that bring to life the color of the gaming industry. These guides can prove invaluable to both the amateur and experienced collector. As the saying goes, "Buy the book, then buy the chip."
These are the essentials. Every hobby has them, and chipping is no exception.
The experienced collector of casino checks doesn't need Chequers Book Reviews to know that you need a book entitled The Chip Rack by Knapp, Wheelden and Myers if you intend to collect Nevada Checks. Or that it is imperative to have Atlantic City Casino Chips and Tokens by Archie Black, if you collect Atlantic City checks. Or that it would be a smart thing to have a copy of Pollack's Guide to the Chips & Tokens of Aruba by Ralph Pollack if you are into Aruba's chips and history.
But for the inexperienced among us (and we were all once inexperienced), this is important information. Thus, Chequers Book Reviews is a resource worth visiting.
I t’s A Start
Collecting chips may be a small hobby, but that doesn't mean there's not a lot to learn. You've gotten this far, and hopefully learned enough to get your feet wet without getting soaked in the process.
Until you feel comfortable in valuing checks on your own, trade conservatively: obsolute check for obsolute check, current chip for current chip, like denomination for denomination.
This is a wonderful hobby. The collecting venues are nothing short of exhilarating and include some of the most exciting places on earth. You'll find chip collectors a friendly, forthright, outgoing group (which may account for the popularity of the bulletin boards). So get involved, pick up some checks, and go home a winner.
Additional reporting for this feature was contributed by Marty Kaplan, co-creator of Chequers, and the writer and editor of Chequers Magazine. he can be reached by email at marty@chequers.com. Neal Silverman is co-creator of Chequers, CC>CC Webmaster, and a writer for Chequers Magazine. Email him at neal@chequers.com.
