also posted over at Chip Talk:

"One came up on eBay sometime within the last year. I was second best bidder, and it ended up going in the $350 range, as I recall. If indeed that one was made out of 10k gold, that would have been slightly less than melt value (which is how I determined my bid-- I think gold was hovering between $950 and $1,000/oz at the time). As you can see from the chip board posts, the consensus seems to be that it was given to high rollers to use at the tables.

"The only other time I've seen one was when someone posted a picture of one on the chip board. However (if memory serves) that one was specifically marked with the 10k mark by the serial number on one side (which is technically required by law for all gold objects of 10K or finer, to have the purity marked). Since the one I bid on (and it appears yours as well) was not marked I knew I was taking a risk basing my bid on the melt value of gold, but I figured I had spent that much before on a regular chip made out of plastic and 'clay' composites, it was cool enough for the price regardless of the metal.

"I don't know if there is a non-invasive way to test for gold content, but it might be worth having this thing checked out if there is. That might help give you one indicator of value. I have a 10K gold casino token that weighs an ounce (~31 grams to the troy ounce) that is 40mm in diameter, so for this to be closer to 50mm in diameter and only weigh 35 grams would seem to indicate that it is perhaps only gold plated, or brass. However, I would definitely conduct a more careful analysis before drawing any conclusions."

In any case, a really cool piece. The one on eBay looked like it had seen much more use that this one (more surface scratches), but otherwise was the same. Does anyone have a pic of the one posted on the chip board previously? I would swear that one was specifically marked 10K.

The mystery continues...

Brent J. Jensen
R-8007
orbis non sufficit