Thanks for the post. I will quickly comment on the nice Pit Ely chip you lukily won at $75. You got a great deal! This is a nice chip & I can tell you I really doubt many are around in Ely. I have worked that town to death! Plus have others up there helping me out. I bid on this chip too. I should of bid more. I have one though & I try not to get on ebay to buy chips to resell although there are opportunties. I think that it is a great source for beginner collectors & dealers dont need to run up the bids to get them to pay big money. How long have you been collecting?
Why the Treasure Bay will bring more. 1st its DEMAND. There are not many rare Riverboats for sale. IT is a fresh chip to hit the market & has never been bid on before. That creates more demand. There is almost a certain guarantee (from what I have read) on the rarity of this item. SO all that & the fact there may be no more will run a price up high for this nice yellow piece of plastic with a little fake gold on it.
2nd there is a lot of collector interest in this chip. Yes new collectors are collecting everything in every part of the country. Some are tired of just Nevada or Jersey. There are therefore more collectors than chips in this case.
Do you happen to know the selling price on this chip before ebay. Werent some sold to fellow collectors. What would it bring if only one other was found & only 2 are known, one of which will probably not be sold for years.
The Pit Ely. We derived our information from past well known collector/hoarder Jerry Wall. He gave us info as found the partial box of all mixed. He also was selling at a certain value & we went with his info & the fact you dont see many around, outside of what he had. About a year ago I heard of someone I think in )COnn. having some with the shovel picture as yours. I dont have all my notes here but I think all were this issue. I know there were some .10 chips & some .25 but only a few so the rarity didnt change. Now if some have been sold elswhere than ebay or at shows & more are actually around than I believe then the value would be lowered. Remember there's not nearly as many collectors for the small towns, they par with Reno, at the bottom of the Nevada list. I also dont think all the small town collectors who may have bid on this are on ebay. I personally know a few big collectors who are not. Also there is certain demand for both chips from those that specialize in low denominations. Condition looks "great" on both so wont have to get into any comparison there. If you see anymore of this chip on ebay please let me know so I can bid. Small towns is still one of my main interests & I believe I have the largest collection so far put together. I think I need to upgrade this issue but my chips arent with me right now.