First the rest of the story (briefly). It was pretty obvious as soon as we started talking that they had done their homework and been in contact with major auction houses.
Having recovered from the shock of what I was presented with it did at first appear that I was merely there to give a second opinion. The auctioneers they had spoken to had talked up the items to quite a degree and one had even gone to the lengths (I have no idea how!) of obtaining a copy of the destruction records on microfilm. I wasn't allowed to take a copy but can verify that with the exception of a couple of jetons everything was accounted for and this is all that now existed.

The only thing I can't grasp (and I didn't ask) was why they only mentioned one PB plaque when they first contacted me. Maybe that was to see if I would jump just for one, which of course I did.

I managed to persuade them that the auction route still left some uncertainties - there was also a considerable downside - they could wait 6 months to be paid - the fees were high and I became a potential buyer.

I have to thank my wife for telling me to take all the UK cash I had in the safe with me (which was a lot!) as I never knew what might be waiting for me. In the end the cash was the deal clincher as any other method of payment would have been taxable. The family were still chomping at the bit that the cash part of Victor's supposedly meagre estate had been left to a friend rather than family (although I have to say that the property I was sitting in hardly gave the impression anyone was short of cash!).

So, I did a deal to purchase the 18 items shown below. Such was the size of this significant (well into 5 figures GBP) deal that I had to make calls to a couple of prospective clients before finalising. So sadly from the readers here point of view, at the time of this posting, the items marked with a green dot are already sold. However, these sold items are firmly within the chip hobby rather than being locked up somewhere never to be seen.

The remaining 6 pieces are available for sale.
The £5 jetons are $400 each shipped
The £10 plaque is $1500 shipped
The £50 plaques are $1500 each shipped
The £100 plaque is $2000 shipped

No room for negotiation I'm afraid. Fees and shipping are going to take 50% of my meagre margin on this deal. I am just glad to have been part of it and handled the items. I have taken individual scans of things for the chipguide. If I post them here they might get compressed so perhaps a chipguide administrator could email me and I will send them. When I have time I will post clean pics here one by one.

Anyone interested please email me at david.spragg@zen.co.uk

There are also some other plaques and jetons from casinos Victor Lownes was later associated with. I will post about those later or tomorrow.
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