most popular type vintage casino chip guide

The $1 chip is the most popular approach. Other collecting focuses include denominations. Chip specialties include house chips, limited-edition chips, and new release chips. Specialized subjects include Atlantic City casinos, closed casinos, downtown Las Vegas casinos, Las Vegas Strip casinos, Native American casinos, and small-town casinos.

Collectors specialize by focusing on the specific casino, casino chain, city, or state.

Resist the urge to collect casino chips from everywhere.

Condition considerations also include canceled or modified, damaged, manufacturer defects or modifications, manufacturers errors, proof or proof-like, and cleanliness. Older is better in terms of value is a first general rule but does not always apply.Ĭasino chips are graded (top to bottom) as new, slightly used, average, well used, and poor. Every casino has special chips that are customized to their specifications.Īccording to Heritage Auctions, the five keys to chip value are rarity (think scarcity not rarity), location, aesthetic appeal, mold, and condition. Millions of poker chips are manufactured every day. The Casino Chips & Gaming Tokens Collectors Club was founded in 1988. Today, many casinos use pre-paid credit card technology for their slot machines.Ĭasino chip collecting is part of numismatic collecting and referred to as exonumia collecting. There also are colored metal (for slot machines) and injected molded chips. Special RFID sensors allow dealers to have a more accurate count of value, thus speeding up the game. Chips also contain RFID chips that reveal information about the chip’s activity and value. Modern chips contain unique serial numbers as well as sophisticated technology such as holograms and microdots. They gained in popularity because lettering and graphics could be added. In the mid-1980s, the ceramic casino chip was introduced. Printed or inlay graphics are done after this initial process. Areas of clay are removed and replaced with a different color clay. The edge spots on the chip are made from the same material as the rest of the chip. Caulk and sand were added to the clay, and the modern composite chip evolved.

It was not until the 1950s that other materials started to be used. In the 1880s, companies began producing uniform size clay tokens using a compression mold technique. Upscale gambling houses had tokens made from bone or ivory, which could be easily forged. The casino or poker chip was designed to bring standardization to the betting process. Early gamblers used coins, nuggets, or pieces of gold and silver, paper money, or tokens.

Most popular type vintage casino chip guide