Welcome to the club and to the chipboard.

Many of the collectors who hang out here collect nothing but chips. My husband and I collect "darn near anything" from Nevada casinos!

On a trip to Vegas in 1981, I "acquired" a few ashtrays and some matchbooks. I looked at some of the chips, and thought about sticking some in my purse, but thought..."that's dumb, would you collect money? Same thing, now turn 'em in to the cashier and get your cash." Or something like that. (I did keep 2-3 chips, with a total face value of about $1...but they're pretty common ones.)

Several years later, at a small local flea market, we ran across an ashtray that said "Joe W. Brown's Horseshoe Club downtown Las Vegas". Huh? I thought Benny Binion always owned the Horseshoe Club? We bought the ashtray, for under $1, and tried to find out who Joe W. Brown was. We came up empty. Our next trip to Vegas we saw another ashtray like ours, and an antique shop owner told us the story. Benny Binion had served some time in prison and had to get his name off of the casino. Joe W. Brown was a friend, and ran the Horseshoe while Benny was detained.

A few days later, still in Vegas, we saw a book on casino ashtrays. It had the story of the Joe W. Brown ashtray. I bought the book...and really really enjoyed the bits of casino history that were throughout the book. When we got home, I dug out the ashtrays that I'd saved from the earlier trip...and that was the start of our collection. Over the years the collection grew from ashtrays and it now includes chips, dice, matchbooks, china & glassware, swizzle sticks...and lots of other stuff! And I still love to read casino stories.

Here's one of our more unusual items...a pair of nylons from the Tahoe Palace Casino!