4 scarce, unique, different Gilbey's distillers advertising poker chips. I say these things because:
¶ only the Port and Rum chips were known at the time of the 1998 Revised Edition of "Antique Gambling Chips." Only recently were the Dry Gin and Sprey Royal chips discovered!
¶ they are engraved on WOOD!
¶ they were made in Czechoslovakia and so noted on the cardboard chip box and the plain backs of the chips!
PW-EO Gilbey's Dry Gin – Red
PW-EP Gilbey's Port – White
PW-EQ Gilbey's Spey Royal – Blue
PW-ER Gilbey's Rum - Green
"W&A Gilbey was founded in 1857 as a gin distillery by Sir Walter Gilbey, but by 1962 had a diversified family share holding, chaired by former figure skater and politician, Ronald Gilbey. He had resigned from London County Council in 1958, to become chairman of W&A Gilbey, a post he held for eleven years. At the time of the merger, Gilbey's was the largest wine and spirits company in the United Kingdom.
"In 1972, the company was bought by Watney Mann, and became their consolidated wine and spirits division. The group was taken over by Grand Metropolitan in 1972.
"In 1997 Guinness merged with Grand Metropolitan to create Diageo. In 1998 IDV was merged with United Distillers to create United Distillers & Vintners, forming the spirits division of Diageo plc.," per Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Distillers_%26_Vintners).
History and pictures of Gilbey's here: http://www.crht1837.org/history/gilbeys
Robert
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