#Holy #Chip #Casino #Chip #Collectors #WorthPoint
If you’ve spent any time in a casino, you’ve seen players using chips at the tables. Chips are legal tender for casino games, but they are also a popular collectible for fans of gambling history and casino memorabilia.
The Casino Collectibles Association exists to help collectors identify their chips, network with other collectors, and learn more about the history of gaming and casinos. Members collect different items from casinos, but the group’s specialty is the history of casino chips.
WorthPoint spoke to three key players in the CCA, Doug Balduini, Doug Smith, and Paul Schaffer, about chip collecting. While it might seem like a rather niche item to collect, WorthPoint learned that thousands of chip collectors are in an active network whose mission is to promote the hobby, preserve vintage chips and casino items, and maintain a database of information and images for future collectors.
HISTORY OF THE CCA
It wasn’t until the 1980s that casino item and chip collectors began organizing themselves. The organization’s original name, which is the CCA today, was “The Casino Chip and Gaming Token Collectors Club (CC>CC).” The group began as a way to connect collectors and share information.
Doug Smith, currently the CCA’s Membership Growth and Engagement Committee Chair and a past President, told WorthPoint, “The CCA is 30 years in the making. It began with a small newsletter, and then, after our first convention in 1988, it began to grow. We have about 1,500 members, and our annual convention in Las Vegas brings many people together to buy, sell, and trade chips.”
One of the group’s original goals was to create a Museum of Gaming History, which they are moving toward. Still, it will likely be a virtual museum since creating a physical space would be a more extensive project over many years. Doug Balduini told WorthPoint, “A museum is a big part of what we want to do, to bring in more collectors and get new people involved, and while we’d hoped to have a building and space, a virtual museum can reach thousands of people, so we are working to make that happen.”
WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT CASINO CHIPS
While some members of the CCA collect casino items other than chips, the organization prides itself on its database of different chips, complete with manufacturing history and photos. The ChipGuide is searchable by location and keywords like casino and club names. Anyone can use the guide to identify and research information on chips they might have or want.
Balduini, Smith, and Schaffer shared some of their stories about collecting chips. Schaffer told WorthPoint that one of his favorite chips came from a casino in Oklahoma that was involved in a dispute with some other Cherokee tribes over where they could open locations. Schaffer had always wanted a chip from Keetoowah Casino, which is now closed, and by networking through social media and the CCA, he was able to find one. Chips mean quite a bit to Schaffer as he holds the Guinness World Record for the largest casino chip collection.
Smith related that he found a chip from the Sans Souci casino he’d been looking to acquire. “Finding this one was a goal for me, and that’s what it’s like for a lot of collectors; finding a certain chip is exciting; it’s the thrill of the chase.”
Balduini’s interests lie in some of the chips and tokens from mob-related backroom card games and illegal gaming. Balduini lives in the NY/NJ area and is especially interested in Atlantic City casinos and gaming history. His favorite find is a chip from the Tuna Club, an Atlantic City unauthorized card room that opened in 1936.
Balduini explained that chips from backroom games or illegal gaming parlors are especially prized by collectors, stating, “There’s almost no history on many of these card rooms and games. They existed under the radar, and so not much is known about them, which makes them more attractive to some collectors.”
VALUES, SUPPLY AND DEMAND
Casino chips are a bit more complex in terms of supply and demand. Casinos that have closed or that were never opened legitimately don’t have a lot of records. While the CCA has collected some records from chip manufacturers, that only shows how many chips a manufacturer made. Balduini explained, “It’s the survivor count that matters. It’s very hard to know how many chips from a defunct card room or casino still exist. Modern chips have holograms, RFID technology, and other ways collectors can track their history; the older chips are not like that.”
Balduini told WorthPoint about some Playboy casino chips that were once very rare. In 2008, construction workers digging up a road to add a sidewalk found thousands of Playboy chips in Hernando, Mississippi. Citizens and others were grabbing the chips for souvenirs, so once the collecting community became aware of so many available chips, the value decreased. For collectors, however, the find was exciting, with all kinds of theories about how they got from Atlantic City to a construction site in Mississippi.
Many chips are priced affordably, but there are a few sales of rare chips that made headlines. Smith told WorthPoint about two rare chips that reached epic prices in 2014 at the CCA convention. One was from the Golden Goose Casino, which was only open briefly, and the other was from the Lucky Casino. The Golden Goose chip was a $5 chip and sold for $75,000. It’s believed to be the only chip of its kind in existence. The chip from the Lucky Casino sold for $52,000 and is one of two known chips from the now-closed casino. At the time, Smith told Coin Week, “It’s nice to see that even in a slowing economy, sales of the super rare chips are still going strong. Those chips were more than likely the only ones known and are sure to be highlights of anyone’s collection.”
FINDING CHIPS TO COLLECT
So, if these stories about old-school casinos, the early days of Vegas, and mobbed-up card rooms intrigue you, where is the best place to find chips? Smith says that it used to be that collectors would gather at the CCA shows to trade handfuls of chips, but now that there are collectors who buy and sell, it’s a bit different. EBay has plenty of chips for sale, and some collectors like to go into a casino, sit at a table game, and purchase a chip at its face value.
It’s also possible for chips to show up at yard sales or in thrift stores. Collecting chips is not as well known as stamp collecting or coin collecting, so there are bargains to be found in the wild since many people might overlook batches of chips as just pieces of plastic. As casinos continue to evolve, adding different chip designs for security, the older chips are a way to remember the games of days gone by, and the Casino Collectibles Association has a treasure trove of information for anyone interested in checking out this hobby.
Brenda Kelley Kim lives in the Boston area. She is the author of Sink or Swim: Tales From the Deep End of Everywhere and writes a weekly syndicated column for The Marblehead Weekly News/Essex Media Group. When not writing or walking her snorty pug, Penny, she enjoys yard sales, flea markets, and badminton.
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