A set of 3 colors was put on ebay a year or two ago (closer to two??). Luckily for me the scan was extremely poor. The scan of the chips was small and blurred. However I was pretty sure they were the type I collect. The seller described them as thus (in my own words as I can't remember the exact words he used): "part of a set of chips from an estate in Florida."

It turns out that the estate was Mar-a-Lago (Trump's place). Mar-a-Lago was the original home of EF Hutton. The seller was the son of a worker for the property. The father was given the chips. I assume the Huttons left them (it was only a partial set). In order to verify that Hutton owned them, I bought a 1934 edition of "American Yacht Flags - Club Burgees and Private Signals of the United States and Canada".

I also asked the seller to send me a note on the chips (see below).

Interestingly enough, other crest and seal collectors bid on the auction. However the scan was so poor that they droppped out early (and wound up buying a set from me at a higher price than they dropped out at). I sold the mjority of chips to a VERY rich collector of chips sets (this would insure the rarity of the chips that I would keep). I only kept a dozen or so sets.

The only crest and seal with a pedigree on the level of Hutton's is Steve Passalacqua's burgee chip originally owned by Joseph Pulitzer (although his chip may be a sample retained by USPC for one of its salesmen).

Most crest & seal collectors now have at least one of these chips (oh yes, even a rabid Florida collector had to have a set). I put this in my New York collection as I figure that Mar a Lago was probably a summer home. I think Hutton was a New Yorker. I'm not sure where the yacht was registered.

Hopefully, someone could tell me whether I should attribute the chip to New York or Florida or elsewhere.