............... Bob Mera signed me up for the Club in May of 1992. Now as Paul Harvey used to say "Here is the rest of the story".

My father was an avid collector of stamps, metered mail, coins and Franklin mint tokens, etc. As the saying goes "The apple didn't fall very far from the tree." and I also was a collector. As a kid I collected baseball cards and all sorts of sports memorabilia. Unfortunately, my sports collection was lost if a flood in 1962. In the early 1980s, I began collecting foreign coins, medals and tokens of all kinds. I liked the odd ball stuff and was not interested in regular issue quarters, dimes and nickels, etc. I had a very large collection including a lot of silver and gold items. Also in the early 1980s I started to gamble on a fairly regular basis and my primary game of choice was Roulette. I had kept a few Roulette chips from occasions when I had won a lot of money at the tables, but I was not really collecting chips.

Then came the fateful day in May of 1992. I was playing Roulette at Caesars in Atlantic City and I decided to take a break from the action and take a walk on the Boardwalk. As I left Caesars, I decide to go into the Shops at Boardwalk One, which was a shopping mall located on a pier going out into the Atlantic Ocean.

I grabbed a soft pretzel and wandered aimlessly thru the never ending maze of shoe store, jewelry stores, novelty stores and assorted shops. Then I saw it !! A sight that totally mesmerized me - 2 large display windows full of gaming chips and the sign that read "Gaming Emporium". Little did I know but my life was about to change for ever !! I went in to the shop and I was greeted by the owner Bob Mera. I asked what was up with all the chips and Bob explained to me that people collect the chips, just like they collect coins or stamps. I was instantly hooked and Bob gave me an application for membership in the CC>CC, which I filled out and mailed in as soon as I got home. Bob also sold me some old A C $1.00 chips from closed casinos the Golden Nugget and Hilton. Bob and I became very good friends and he even gave me my nick name "Mr. Roulette". Bob passed away in 1999 after a long battle with Leukemia, but I will always remember him as the one who got me started in the chip collecting hobby.

I later met Archie Black, bruce Landau and a lot of other Atlantic City area collectors at Bob's shop. As i got more and more into collecting chips I sold off all my coins, medals and tokens that I had collected to buy chips. I often told people that I sold Gold and Silver coins to buy Clay and Plastic chips, they thought I was crazy, but I have never regretted it !!

The rest is history - I set up a dealer's table at the 1st CC>CC Convention in 1993 and I have had a table at every Convention for the last 19 years. In 1994, I helped set up the Atlantic City Chapter of the CC>CC and I have been an officer of the A C Club for the last 17 years. As far as collecting goes, I still like the odd ball stuff - Roulette chips, Large Crown chips, NCVs, Illegal Club chips and UFCs.

I am so glad that I wandered into Bob Mera's Gaming Emporium shop on that fateful day in May of 1992. I have had a tremendous time in chip collecting - traveling all over the Country, visiting 100s and 100s of casino and meeting some of the nicest people you could imagine along the way.

Take care and Thank You Bob !!!
"Mr. Roulette"