I've been meaning to post these chips for over a year but never got around to it. HCE day put my butt in gear. Thanks Dennis!

This is a set of very rare HCE weight samples. The "HVY" stands for heavy and the "EX.HY" is for extra heavy. I believe the HVYs are out there in short supply while the EX.HYs are extremely hard to come by, if not impossible. I had each chip weighed by two local jewelers about a year and a half ago. I expected some continuity in the weights v. hot stamp and was a little surprised by the flux.

I bought them from a Vegas local who picked them up at an estate sale. I was extremely curious about their history as all the chips I bought were in new condition and most could be traced to the 50's. I pressed him for any information he could give me on the who, what & where and all he could give me is that he attended a professional sale "Saturday, three weeks ago that was in the paper". That was enough to put CSI Seattle in motion.

I ordered a Las Vegas Sun back issue from the Friday before, found the ad that matched, confirmed the address with seller, confirmed the chips and sale with auction house in charge and did a search on the address from the county records. Who I found was Clarence Stewart. A long time casino executive who had lived in the same house, north of the strip, for 50 continuous years. He had never divorced, out lived his wife, had no children and in his later years, signed over most everything he owned to his niece from St. Louis. For a short while, he owned a piece a property on the south end of the strip which now a development. I have tried a couple times to get a hold of the niece as I have an old phone number for her. She's been allusive. In addition to what I've found, I'm sure there is a lot more information out there on Mr. Stewart with the city as well as the state. I just haven't looked yet.

I mention all this at length just to give a little background on the chips. I find it very interesting that Mr. Stewart kept these chips for 50 years. They must have had some personal value to him. BTW, if you have any HVY or EX.HY chips not shown below, I would be VERY interested in trading or buying them. I have a few extra HVYs in navy, beige, one in red and only one EX.HY in black.

Enough, on with the chips...