Mike, you've described how almost all of us started in this hobby. I have a $1 Diamond Gertie's from the Yukon, Canada hotstamped chip somewhere around the house, handed to me by an old friend who went gold prospecting after we both sold our shares of a lounge in the mid-80's. I carried that chip (for good luck) along with an original AC Hilton $2.50 and a 25 Franc chip from the American Salon, Monte Carlo France that were sent to me by to my 3's company room-mates in the mid-eighties as souvenirs when they where at those places who don't live here anymore. I'll have those for ever as physical rememberence of dear of friends that I'll probably never see again. These little disks can hold memories. They do for me.

Bob