$11 delivered. ... . PayPal is OK. ... .. 1919 inlaid BLUE die-cut poker chip made by U.S. Playing Card Co. for Theta Tau Engineering Fraternity at University of Minnesota -- the fraternity's logo appears on the chip: Greek letters ΘΤ -- Theta Tau exists today, and is the largest engineering fraternity in the country!

I offered this chip during the holidays, but in case some of you missed it, I am offering it again now here.

Up for auction is the 1919 U.S. Playing Card Co-made BLUE poker chip with the Greek-letters logo of the ΘΤ (Theta Tau) Fraternity, which was founded at the University of Minnesota in 1904 as the "Society of Hammer and Tongs," and changed its name to the Greek letters Theta Tau in 1911. The chips were ordered in 1919 by a cigar store in Minnesota. (Cigar, sporting goods and department stores often placed poker chip orders with USPC Co. for their customers.) We know the poker chips were made in 1919 and sent to the cigar store in Minnesota because we have the USPC order-shipping records and pictures, reproduced on page 61 of Kregg Herz' Guide to the USPC Co. Poker Chips for this chip.

Pictured here are:
¶ the chip to be auctioned, which bears the Greek letters Theta and Tau intertwined.
¶ the Greek alphabet. Note the letters Theta and Tau, the same as are on the chip.
¶ the logo of the Engineering fraternity, ΘΤ (Theta Tau), that bears the same two Greek letters.
¶ scan of part of the contemporaneous page from the USPC Co. manufacturing-order-shipping-sample records for this chip.

HISTORICAL NOTES: "ΘΤ (Theta Tau) Fraternity was founded in 1904 by four engineering students at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. ... As defined by the fraternity, the purpose of Theta Tau is to develop and maintain a high standard of professional interest among its members, and to unite them in a strong bond of fraternal fellowship. The goals of the fraternity are to promote the social and professional development of its members during and after their college years. Today, Theta Tau is the oldest and largest professional engineering fraternity in the United States, with a diverse membership of men and women studying engineering at more than 40 campuses," per Wikipedia. (http://www.thetatau.org/ -- to visit the home page of the Theta Tau fraternity and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theta_Tau -- to see the Wikipedia article on the fraternity.)

Robert