Cuban Ivory #1

By:Luis Alvarez (97.100.74.72)
Date: 8/8/13 3:09 pm

Sorry, I did something and everything got deleted!!!
Mid to late 1800 Cuba was very much under Spain. And up to after the revolution there was little commerce between Cuba and USA. Most of it was Cuba-Spain, Cuba-Europe. So, when the USA was using Ivory in their chips, most gambling centers in Cuba, which were run by 1st or 2nd generation Spaniards, the wealthier class, whether public, like a casino or private, like clubs, was still using MOP from Europe, metal tokens which served as payment to workers but also doubled as gambling pieces and the combination of wood with metal, common in Europe at the time. True Cubans, however, did use Ivory. One of the reason was that the games Cuban played were very different from any of the games played in Europe or the USA. So, they had to create Ivory chips with figures and numbers that would adapt to their games. Still, these were made by the wealthier Cubans. So, here are a few examples of the Ivory chips made by Cubans.