This is an addendum to the IOTD I posted earlier:
http://www.thechipboard.com/index.cgi/page/1/md/read/id/1516398/sbj/illegal-of-the-day-texas-42/

Additional info and corrections…

I touched on the “U Club” in the above post and purposely did not post pictures of the chips “attributed” to it (below).

I’ve NEVER liked this attribution, even when it came out back almost 20 years ago. The source of these attributions has since been shown to have made things up to sell chips.

Back in the day, the illegal chip hobby was BOOMING! If you had a new find, there was no lack of takers, and that made the incentive to make up attributions all the more lucrative. There was one person in Galveston (he will remain nameless, but has since passed) who had no problem making up attributions for anything he found. If there were initials, he’d find a fit, sometimes stretching it so much it now seems silly.

The above chips were said to belong to the U Club and the initials stood for “G”rieves, “A”lexander and “Y”ou. There are a number of problems with this, but let me unpack a few.

First, Frank Grieves was in fact a minor partner in the U Club in the 1940s, along with major partners Jimmy Alexander and Tripo Pavlovich. However, why the initials wouldn’t have a “P” makes this very suspect.

Secondly, the flower mold is rare in Galveston (although not unheard of) and the $10 denomination only exists in one other possible chip - Deluxe Club C&S with a “10”. Most $10 flower molds are from California, and I bet so are these.

Thirdly… how stupid is the “You” for “Y”? The club was not the “You Club”, it was the “U Club”. The explanation when selling the chip said it was in reference to its patrons making them feel included. There's the "GA" for us (at least 2/3 of us) and the "Y" for you. One big happy family. For this to be the case, gamblers would have to know how to decode the initials in the first place. This is just an insult to our intelligence. How embarrassing!

Lastly, we already know of chips ordered for the U Club. Frank Grieves in 1946 ordered Mason chips with “UC” on them. The person typing up the order card misread and typed “TJ Club” (“U” close to “TJ” when put together) for the address 2012 Market St. Why have chips marked “UC” from one company then change companies and start marking them “GAY”, leaving out one partner?

(Note: I’ve never seen these chips. As Gene used to say, “Cough them up if you have traders!”)

Put them all together and it makes me feel like we’ve been duped. Unfortunately, this guy duped a lot of people, and most of his bogus attributions got into books like Frank Chalfant’s “Galveston: Island of Chance” and my price guides. Once it’s been published, it’s really hard to get them out. It’s sometimes impossible to prove a negative, especially when there are no records. The burden should have been on the original attribution, but I think most of us were just happy to get a new Galveston chip.

Lest you think the “GAY” chips are the only ones this guy effected, let roll down a few from him that I have been able to show as false…

Attributed as the Alamo Club and going to Abe T. Rosenthal.

Before we had access to the Mason records, this seemed reasonable. Problem is, Abe’s middle initial is not “T”, it’s “J”. We later found out the chips were sent to Galveston gambler L.E. Griffice in 1949. At the time he was managing the Deluxe Club, known gambling joint. I haven’t decoded the initials “ATR”, but likely not Rosenthal. As of now, still a UFC.

Attributed by said person as “Circle Club”. Why? Well because “Circle” starts with “C” and there were no known chips from the Circle Club.

It was delivered to C.S. Strauss in 1931 to St Joseph, Mo. Strauss was a bigtime Missouri gambler. No ties to Galveston.

Attributed as “Club C”. Nope, not even close. Delivered to Dominic Sherman, Camden, NJ in 1937. He worked at the Sciamanna Café in Camden.

Said to be from the “Gay Kat” on Avenue R. At least he was in the correct state this time. Sent to Garland Kerr, Crown Bar, Ft Worth, Texas in 1930s.

Hollywood Dinner Club anyone? Great club and the chips are highly desirable. Problem is, these were delivered to Arvin, California, long after the Hollywood Dinner Club had closed.

There are others, mostly long attributed to the correct places by now. However, because of these deceits, much damage has been done to the hobby and many chips will likely NEVER find their proper home.

And let’s not be fooled to think this happened only in Galveston by one person. There are many chips out there misrepresented, either accidently or intentionally. We need to be diligent and continue researching the chips we all love to collect.

Thanks!

Ed Hertel