Hi Chuck, defining obsolete chips should as simple as the chip no longer in play. But, they can be labeled as obsolete if a casino has removed all table games. ...now what happens when the casino re-introduces a table game that uses one of their previously obsolete chips? ...say a $5 chip being used on a Blackjack table that had been put in the closet by a small casino. ...THEN, the casino pulls the BJ table and puts the poker table back on the floor (I'm talking small casino) so not only are their $5 chips no longer obsolete, but their $1 chips are back in play. Both scenarios have happened in the last 6 months at the Palace Casino and Hotel in Cripple Creek.

The Silver Hawk in Black Hawk CO CLOSED in '92. They re-opened in '96, and CO Gaming allowed them to use the old $5 chips at this new casino with an old name. Four years passed, and there were some collectors who paid premium ($200 a chip) prices for the original Silver Hawk $5 chips, only to find THE VERY SAME CHIPS IN PLAY at the NEW casino. I'll sell anyone the chip for $8. I was told that the ONLY reason that they didn't do the same thing with the Silver Hawk $1 chips was upon revue at the "reincarnation", the old $1 chips didn't meet gaming standards as to being "predominately white" in color, so they drilled most of them.

Thank goodness, gaming regs have been changed to prevent this from occuring again, almost. I've been told that there is a slight risk of said reintroduction of the $25 Lilly Belle's if the casino should ever open again under the same name. I personally don't see that happening, but stranger things have happened. ....if I was gonna buy the property, I'd retrovert it back into what it looks like, i.e. a lodging house or bed & breakfast with a restaurant. ....it (is) was too far up the hill to walk just to gamble...

Bob