Collecting Casino Chips - Part one

Collecting casino checks, chips and tokens has become the fastest growing area of numismatic related hobbies in the past few years. It's easy, generally inexpensive and interesting.

Casinos issue "checks" which are a promise to pay the amount imprinted on them. Most people call these chips, but I wanted you to know the difference. A chip is a wheel chip or a poker chip or something that has no value printed on it. For our purposes all chips are lumped together from here on. Tokens are various composition metal coins used for slot play and some table games.

With the proliferation of casinos across the country it was natural that people would start collecting chips and tokens. I started in a very small way when I was at the MGM Grand in Reno in the 80's and took home a dollar slot token. Next trip I thought that it would be fun to get a $1.00 casino chip from each casino I visited in Las Vegas. Soon I was going to every casino I was near in Nevada and trying to get a chip for the collection. Now I am trading, buying and selling chips with members of The Casino Chip and Gaming Tokens Collectors Club (CC>CC) as well as people all over using Prodigy as the largest chip collectors electronic gathering place.

Wherever you live there are probably casinos, river boats, card rooms, or tribal gambling halls that you and friends might go to. The best way to collect is in person for face value. Once you have collected most of the local chips, it's time to branch out into trading and other venues. Possibly you will make a trip to Las Vegas, Reno or Atlantic City where there are enough casinos within walking distance to keep you busy collecting for a couple of days. I enjoy playing at the casinos and trying to win my chips for nothing.

Other places you might find casino chips and tokens are flea markets, antique shops or dealers who specialize in casino collectables. However when you collect in person you might want to remember to get three of anything you can. One for you and two for future trades. Coin dealers haven't embraced the "casino pogs" fully, but you will find some at coin shows who deal in them.

Most people start out collecting $1.00 chips and tokens. Eventually this increases to $5.00 chips as ones interest grows. What many people miss in the beginning is fractional chips, which are usually more difficult to obtain than $1.00 and $5.00 chips, but can cost less. Look for 25 and 50 cent chips, and $2.50 chips at twenty-one tables. A five dollar bet with 21 gets the player $7.50 and the casino has to pay that 50 cents somehow? Another reason for the less expensive chips is small games in many smaller casinos. You can play 25 cent Craps in Downtown Las Vegas. Many of the casinos are dropping 50 cent chips in favor of Kennedy Halves, Minnesota for example, so get them before they become obsolete. Some of the rarest chips are old 10 or 25 cents from closed casinos.

What about expense? It's actually not very expensive to build a good collection. If you went to Atlantic City for a day and collected $5.00 and under chips from every casino, you would have about 36 chips and it would cost you $102. Not bad? Don't forget to pick up the traders. Most people trade even up face for face, each one paying the shipping postage. A very even deal. So you live in Wisconsin and have a friend in Colorado? They can send you a dozen $1.00 chips and you send them a dozen $1.00 in return, your collection just grew, for the price of shipping.

Something that started in recent years is the casinos issuing Limited Editions (LE's). This might be a Grand Opening, New Years Eve, Rodeo Commemorative, Boxing Match or who knows what. LE's are almost always $5.00 chips, but there are $8, $10, $25 and $100 varities. The limited part varies and of course with that the availability and prices. The recent "Fremont Street Experience" set, which where made for the opening of the remodeled Downtown, Las Vegas, were issued from 10 different casinos, all at the same time. People are selling sets, but you can still find single chips here and there, on the tables. Even chips that have been off the tables for a few years, have a way of coming back when someone who took it home for a souvenir, decides to cash it in. Generally LE's are produced in Qtys. of 2,000 or less. Some 500 of each and some 1,000 numbered sets. This all gets a bit complicated, trying to place a value on a chip.

Pitfalls to avoid if possible. Faux chips, home play chips, collectables and outright counterfeits. The casino supply houses make chips for home play, for casinos that never existed. These usually cost 35 cents and up at the source. Any chips that has the opening and closing date, isn't real. Someone made up commemorative sets of these to sell to collectors. If someone is selling you a $500 chips for $3.00 (or even $20) it's time to beware. Most dealers mark the chips as reproductions, but someone might not know it's a fake them self. There is always the possibility of a counterfeit, but very few are known to exist at this time. The answer is chip guides.

There are price guides for most of the major areas, and new guides being written right now. Two of the Nevada guides are the Herz "Nevada Gaming Checks & Chips" which is illustrated and "The Chip Rack" which lists over 8,000 Nevada chips in detail. For Atlantic City there is the "Black's Guide" which is considered the standard for AC. Casino collectables shows are being held across the country, along with mail auctions of just casino chips and tokens.

Chips are generally not graded in the manner coins are. You will find that "like new" and almost unused will demand a bit more, but then there is a broad area of "used", followed by "worn". With LE's it's hard to find one used, where with older obsoletes, like new chips are very rare. Tokens are a little different. Most people collect for locations and varieties, but the more serious collectors are concerned with best possible condition. Those tokens take a beating rattling around in the pay out bins, and even fresh out of the bag they might have some small nicks.

If you decided to collect tokens, keep in mind that you want the best condition you can find and worn tokens are worth about face value unless it's a rare example from the distant past. Token collecting hasn't caught on with as many people, but the serious collectors have a lead on the rest when it does gain more interest, and it will. New tokens are coming out in sets from some casinos. Now there are tokens with colorful centers and inlay centers. But the most popular tokens are the new Silver Premium (SP's) collectors tokens. These started out with $7 types, and most are $10 now. You will find $20 and even a $5.00 machine where you can win a $200 silver token. You can win the $10 tokens by playing quarter machines, at casinos all over.

Recently some casinos have switched to $10 silver plate and just plain nickel $10 premium tokens. So again you need to be aware and read the fine print. The real silver tokens will say .999 fine silver, while others might be imprinted HSP or nothing at all. As silver prices vary the average $10 SP is worth under $5.00 silver value, but of course you can get $10 at the casino, while most collectors pay $12 and up for these.

Pete Porro CC>CC R-1040