This Tahoe chip is one of those I have at auction on ebay this week. I had never looked closely at the Harrahs name to see what the blob of brass after the name really was. Here is the chip and a closeup of the brass rectangle with the club name and location. I thought it could possibly be the number "72".

It doesn't look like any of the "Registered Trademark" symbols that I've seen. Here's Wikipedia's discussion of the symbol:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registered_trademark_symbol

Regarding my speculation that the symbol is the number "72", which could be the date the chip was designed: TCR says these chips were used in the 1980's. The Harrahs tower was, I believe, finished in 1972. Could the brass-core chips have really been used earlier than 1980 at Harrahs Lake Tahoe?

Maybe it represents the company that made the chip, Reliable Engraving Co. of San Leandro, CA? If so, why only on this one chip design? Maybe it is on other chips? I think I found the answer when I looked at a Reliable Engraving sample chip... it has the same script letter R!

I'd like it to be a date (like the month/year you see on Paulson metal inlay chip). It is likely that it's the manufacturer's logo though. What do you think? Why is it only on this one chip design?