Rich, in 1915 a World's Fair was held in San Francisco. Among the exhibits was "49 Camp" which took visitors back to the days of the 49-ers. Perhaps tents or wooden cabins with "Mountain Men" and grizzled Prospectors. The exhibit offered card games (poker, faro maybe?) that the old-timers would have played, and visitors could play with these chips at the tables. After the Fair closed, the chips were sent over to Oakland and used in another card room there (not sure if was also called 49 Camp or something else). Anyway, that's the story I heard (from the old Easter Bunny). Yes, chips came in different colors, I have a brown one in my collection.