I know I just posted one last week, but this was one I wanted to share. It's another IOTD that is short on history, but a real fun ride-along with a chip researcher.

I hope you enjoy!

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It seems as of late that my research projects have been taking me on some weird trips. Last week I went around and around gathering information on the Kipp’s Stag from Illinois. This week I was given a stumper from Montana. I thought for sure this was a lost cause, but just when you’re about to give up, that’s when you strike gold.

Fellow collector Tom Perry (see end for contact info) reached out to me about some chips he had found. The hotstamp was a little unusual, and it took a minute to even figure out what I was seeing.

The first character is a little unusual looking, but it reads “7HL” and they were purchased by Mason & Co by:

Kirk Green
Box 92
Ashland, MT
(no date)

As far as the initial information goes, it left a lot to be desired. No club name, no real address, and no date. This one needed work.

So I start with the name Kirk Green in Ashland. Fortunately, I got a quick hit when his 2015 obituary popped up and luckily there was a lot of potentially helpful information on the man. Born in 1926, Kirk had been a lifelong resident of Ashland. He and his wife had 12 children (I just can’t imagine) and he held various jobs around town (no doubt doing whatever just to get out of the house!). According to a timeline I pieced together, here is what he was involved in:

Family Ranch – 1926-1973 – in 1973 leased to his son, also named Kirk Green
Ashland Bar – until 1956 – father’s bar. Kirk left after his father died.
Plant Superintendent for St. Labre Indian Mission
Postmaster of Ashland – served for 26 years
Green’s Grocery – 1973-2015 – owned it until he died

Even with all those jobs, its easy to eliminate some from possible gambling. I doubt there was a poker game going on in the back room of the post office and his position as a superintendent at an Native American mission sounded pretty legit.

But what about the Ashland Bar? First glance sounds like a good fit, but the more I dig the less likely I think it is. For starters, I couldn’t find any mention of gambling troubles at the Ashland Bar. More than that though, the timing seems to be wrong. Kirk Green left the Ashland Bar after his father passed away in 1956. Even though the Mason record didn’t have a date, the chips seem later than that. According to David Spragg, the Mason mold wore out and was replaced sometime in the early 1960s. There is a certain look and feel to a Mason chip after this switch. They are heavier and the hub molds seem sharper and shinier. These “7HL” chips just feel like they are newer than 1956.

Rusty cowboy sign of the Ashland Bar

The other immediate possibility was the Green’s Grocery. My fear here was that he might have ordered the chips for someone else. Who knows where they would belong if not even the name Kirk Green meant anything. Worried, I search around for anything in Ashland that would go with the initials “7HL”. I couldn’t find anything. Also, I assumed if Kirk Green was a supplier of chips, I would expect his name would be more prominent in the records. This was the only time he had ordered chips, thus I didn’t feel like he was a supplier.

I was frustrated and feeling like I should give up. I just couldn’t make anything fit. Then, I thought about the ranch. We’ve seen a few examples of chips made for ranches before (examples from Texas include the Quien Sabe and the Flying L Ranches). Maybe “7HL” stood for the name of the ranch?

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything with a unique name of the ranch. All references simply said “Green’s Ranch”. My hope of finding a Seven Hollow Lodge or a Seventh Heaven Landing didn’t pan out. As far as ranches went, Green’s wasn’t a massive estate crying out for its unique identity.

While searching Montana ranches I happened to stumble on a book called “Montana Department of Livestock – Brands-Enforcement Division”. In it were hundreds of pages of registered brands and for a moment I held out hope when I got a hit for Kirk Green’s Ranch:

Not even close, another hope dashed. But then something occurred to me. This brand was for Kirk Green “Junior”. I didn’t know if brands changed over time, or were pretty consistent like a family crest. (I’ve been a city boy my entire life!)

Digging through the Montana brand archives I found reference books dating back to the mid-1800s. They were rough and hard to navigate, but eventually I made it to the 1960-1970 volume and started flipping through hundreds of pages. Finally, I came across a name that looked familiar…

It’s one of those discoveries that literally makes you jump in your seat. No doubt about it – 7HL - just a plain as day.

After all that work researching possible career clues, it came down to an obscure family brand that tattooed the butts of his cattle.

So, in the end it looks like these were probably not “illegal” after all and most likely used in personal games at the Green’s Ranch. It is kind of fun to think of a bunch of cowboys using these after a cattle drive or while soothing their muscles following a rodeo.

In the end, another first for me. I never thought researching casino chips would require hours of thumbing through old cattle brand books. Where will this hobby take me next???

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For those interested in the chips, I believe Tom Perry has some available. If you need his email address, drop me an email. (I’m not sure if he’s keen on publishing here for the bots to grab).