Well I'm back home after 2 weeks in Vegas and California.

I thought I'd post some of the chips and cards that I managed to pick up, along with some comments on some of the places that you can find obsolete chips. In previous years I have picked up chips at the old musuem that was located at the Tropicana, but fortunately earlier in the year Pam G posted details of some of the places that chips could be found so that was a good start for me.

I'm trying to pick up one $5 chip from every Las Vegas casino and one chip from every other Nevada location, updating with nicer looking chips if I come across any (or more importantly if I can afford them!). First stop was the Eastern Cannery (on the site of the old Nevada Palace I believe) as the only current casino that I needed a $5 chip from, and a quick stop at the cashiers cage got me that one.

I also pick up players cards at any casino I pass by - I think it's a great way to add to a collection for no cost!!! I generally only collect cards that I get myself and this also gives me a chance to add to the collection each year as the cards change. Interestingly the players card from the Eastern Cannery is unique to that location - most of them seem to be used at several casinos in town so the number of different cards is much lower than the number of casinos.

The next winner for me, before I headed out to the collectibles shops, was in the Paris where I was staying. I sat down at the Pai Gow table for a few hands, realised I didn't have my card with me, so the pit boss printed one out for me with the different logo that you can see in the scans below - not sure exactly what this is supposed to be - I thought maybe Year of the Snake, but that isn't this year is it? Hoping someone can help on this.

So on to the shops. I started out just after 4pm, figuring the stores would close at maybe 5 or 6pm - unfortunately the first one I tried - Highland Collectibles on Charleston - closed at 4pm. It kinda looked as though it may not even be open, but I would try another day - this is the store :

So on to the next store - Sin City Collectibles on Fremont. I had high hopes, but arriving at this place at 4:30 it was also closed, even though the store hours said open until 5pm and the big "open" sign in the window! There are major road works in this stretch of Fremont outside the store and so I figure they have just shut up shop while the roadworks are on, which meant more bad news. This is the store :

OK, so one store left and it is now just after 5pm. This is the relatively newly opened store on the north end of the Strip by the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop (the one in the TV show) and thankfully this was open (until 6pm generally) - Lost Vegas antiques. Inside, quite an interesting store, with lots of Vegas collectibles although several did seem to be aimed at the tourist market as well as more serious collectors. The guy behind the counter was very helpful though and, having said I was looking for $5 house chips, dug out a few boxes of chips in no apparant order and started to look through them. There were quite a few, with (unfortunately) quite a few in poor condition, but I did manage to get the $5 San Remo that I needed (not rare I know, but for some reason I hadn't picked one up in good condition previously). I also got the Flamingo Hilton for a fair price.

There didn't seem to be many rarer chips, but a fun half hour, and 2 chips for the collection. He also gave me the Butch Cassidy chip which I assume is a fantasy chip. I forgot to take a photo, but this is the adverting card they hand out.

So time for a few more additions to the slot cards - these are the cards that I picked up this year. Maybe not rare, but more freebies for the collection!

And just for completeness, the room key and phone card from the Paris for those that collect such things...

So, the next day was Saturday and as the other stores were not open on Sundays I figured I would try again. I started with Sin City on Fremont and unfortunately the store was still closed in the middle of the day. There was another collector there who was trying to get in so at least 2 sales missed by closing - at least a sign saying they were closed for a while would have been helpful!

And so onto Highland collectibles - I wasn't holding out too much hope at this stage, especially as the door was locked when I got there, but I rang the bell as instructed and a few seconds later the door opened and in I was. First thoughts were - I love this place! Inside was quite a range of collectibles, somewhat haphazard, stuff stacked everywhere - just the sort of old store that I love to search through. The owner was dealing with a lady trying to sell ornaments of some sort so I just wandered around for a while and as well as spotting some trays of chips which looked much more interesting, there seemed to be all sorts of stuff around - various casino items - chips, slot glass, mugs and souvenirs and so on as well as all sorts of other collectibles - there was a guy from Germany looking at postcards at the other end of the store, old playboys, vinyl records etc etc. Great fun to just browse.

Once the owner had dealt with the lady, I explained what I was looking for and he pulled out the trays, then found a few folders of foreign jetons for me to look at (nothing I needed from the UK unfortunately), other binders etc. If I wanted high end chips he also had others in the safe which he was happy to show me, but I declined as I knew I wouldn't be able to buy, but was grateful for the offer. The prices seemed a little high, but he then shouted "did I mention they are all 50% off" which brought them into TCR price ranges. I wouldn't say there were bargains (not at the ones I needed anyway) but at this level the prices were now fair and so I made a few purchases and after a little more browsing left quite happy and sure that I would return again.

These are the chips I managed to pick up in the end :

And so another fun trip in Vegas...followed by a week relaxing on the Californian coast. Am now back home, wondering how we managed to fill one case more that we took and my body clock struggling with the 8 hour time lag and no sleep on the 10 hour flight back. Just planning the next trip now!

Jason