Nice work, and the story is compelling. Gene would have loved those connections and surely would have grabbed a phone book and started calling every Fisher and Fischer in the Chicago phone book trying to find a relative.

I have a few comments...

Fisher vs Fischer... I think you nailed that one. I think most of the orders back then were done over the phone and there are a ton of spellings that are more phonetic than correct.

HF initials being person or hotel... hmmm. The Hunt records clearly say "H. Fisher" at the S. Park address, which obviously match the initials on the chips. Seeing that a William Fischer lived there at the time, I tend to go with that. If I had to guess what happened I would be more toward a mistake on the Hunt company than on planned deception. They may have not known the first name and just addressed it as "H. Fisher" to go with the initials.

I've had people try to convince me that the monograms on the chips are purposely obscure to "throw off the authorities." I've also been told the chips wouldn't have denominations so, if busted, they could claim they weren't playing for real money. I don't believe either to be the case. The real reason is the less you customize, the cheaper the chip. If everyone could get beautiful chips with full club names and denominations, they probably would.

And as far as the chips being used as evidence??? Plenty of chips have been introduced as evidence, but I've never seen a case where the name on the chip or a denomination was used. There is usually plenty more evidence connecting places with gambling.

What were they used for?... I'd guess, like you, they were used for card games at the hotel. But, it doesn't have to be illegal. Growing up, I remember seeing tables full of guys playing cards in the country club men's locker room and wondering how that could be legal. The real answer is that if the house isn't taking a cut, people can play each other all they want.

Just guessing on all these, but sometimes that's all we can do.

Thanks for your research! Love it!!!