We keep discovering new treasures. Casino chip collecting is a collecting niche that is totally unfamiliar territory for us, but let's see what we can find out.
Nevada was the first state to legalize casino gambling, in 1931, and for a long time remained the only state where casinos were legal (the next state following suit was New Jersey in 1978). Before and after the final legalization of gambling in Nevada, small gambling houses were plentiful in Las Vegas. The first large hotel-casino to open in Vegas was El Rancho, opening its doors in april 1941 (it was destroyed by fire in 1960). Several others followed, one of them being the Thunderbird, which opened in 1948. The Thunderbird was renamed several times during its lifetime, and was finally destroyed in 2000, to make place for something bigger and better. The chip pictured above is a vintage $5 chip from the Thunderbird casino.
We honestly do not know why this specific chip would be worth $660 to a collector, but as usual with collectibles, rarity and condition play an important role. There are several casino chip dealers out there, like OldVegasChips and CasinoRarities. Browsing through their lists of chips for sale, we noticed there are several chips listed for thousands of dollars. One nice example in the OldVegasChips hall of fame is a 'second issue' $100 chip from the Flamingo casino, last seen on the market in 1999, selling for $8750(!). The Flamingo, opened in 1946, was famous for its mob connections, with mobster Bugsy Siegel being one of the owners. Bugsy was killed by a mob hitman in 1947, making Flamingo chips from the first year of operation extra rare and desirable.Not only vintage casino chips sell for a lot of money. On Ebay, we have also seen non-vintage chips sell for similar amounts because of their rarity, like this limited edition (250) Sammy Hagar Hard Rock Casino chip (2002) selling for about $1300. These are probably harder to find in the wild though, after all they are limited editions.
For more info on the history of gambling in the United States, visit this page. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has an interesting site for their Center for Gaming research (the El Rancho history article linked above is here too). For even more information on casino chips, there is the casino chip collecting webring, and the ChipGuide. To our surpise several chip collecting books and priceguides are available as well.
For a good understanding of the rarity and value of vintage chips, you would have to know more about the history of Las Vegas, and the history of the major hotel-casino establishments that followed El Rancho. After getting to know a little more on the history of Las Vegas, you can browse the sites of the aforementioned casino chip sellers, which have a good lot of pictures online, allowing you to study the chips.
Contrary to what the ads and commercials say, what happens in Vegas does not always stay in Vegas, so go dig up those treasures!
0 comments:
Post a Comment