personal chips. I have seen various initials on Catalin chips at flea market sales - the chips doomed to be melted down into bracelets and bangles (the horror!). These, I'm told, date back to the 1920's and 30's as well and as casinos did not use Catalin (again, so I'm told - too slippery to stack up nicely) - they must have been personal chips. Advantage, fireproof, unlike nitrocellulose products.

In those early years, personal chips were likely playthings of the wealthy. As Rich points out, the scions of the Gilded Age.