Your mileage may vary!

First and foremost, we are talking Laughlin, not Vegas.

The rack/house chips from both properties have been out for years, although the Belle does update their $1's periodically. And generally speaking, between interested collectors and dealers, I dare say there are loads of newer condition examples of all the rack chips and LE's.

When speaking of the LE's, at one time there was a BOOM of new collectors into the hobby and they came in with the BOOM in LE's. While we have lost many collectors to old age (some have died and some have decided to sell and not put the selling burden on their heirs). But we lost a great many of the LE collectors. Some of whom have turned their LE's in, or sold them for cheap to other collectors, but there are some who still have the chips just sitting on a shelf somewhere.

My feeling is, for the number of collectors we have now, there are more than enough Colorado Belle and Edgewater chips out there (in really good condition) that are worth just about face value, when you factor in mailing costs, time and effort to sell, etc.

Another point is that only the chips in uncirculated condition (from those two casinos, and from the time they were owned by Circus Circus Enterprises) will have superior value, IN MY OPINION. All the rest have only been face value, if you could get to the casino, and perhaps 80% of face value if you could not get to the casino.

As for the LE's from the Colorado Belle (and I have already said that only uncirculated condition has a superior value) have been on the tables for years and years and years! In fact, some time ago, the Colorado Belle pulled all of their $5 rack chips from the tables and put all of their $5 LE's onto the tables, in an effort to get people to take them home. This probably happened with a lot of souvenir people. However, this act has eliminated the possibility of getting uncirculated LE's from the casino. And they can only be obtained from dealers, or the aging collectors, or the hidden stash of LE collectors that have left the hobby.

But all in all, any chip that is not in excellent condition, should be returned at this time for best value. If you can get to the casino personally, then best value is face. For those that can't get there, I believe I am giving them their next best value. (I should point out that while many returns are done for free (as a favor for one or two people) the customary rate is 80% of face value.

Please note, all of this is just my opinion, after a couple of beers!