the Desert Inn was scheduled to close and I got a call from the casino manager Arnie Shehadi … I use to work with him at Caesars Palace. He brought me up to his office and wanted me to appraise some old Desert Inn Chips with Wilbur Clark on them. I was amazed and stunned when he open the file cabinet drawer and behold boxes and boxes of $25 and $100 dollar vintage Wilbur Clark HCE mold chips. I got to handle some of those in mint condition and ask him…. are they looking to sell them or what? He told me he couldn’t sell any to me right now because they were the General Managers chips and for now just ballpark the value. I practically begged to get at least one of each from him, but no go …. He did let me in early to purchase other casino equipment from the basement. Steve Wynn was getting rid of everything free with the desert inn logo on it so I bought a bunch of meat stuff.

The point I would like to make is buyer beware you never know how many of these beautiful Chips eill resurface, and I feel bad for all the people that have spent good money for these rare chips. Nobody in their right mind that has access in the casino business would let these old get destroyed and not keep some for themselves for future investments.

Thanks for reading the post and let’s all go easy on Oscar. He’s one of the good guys and we need more like him and young people in the hobby or else. All of our collections will wind up at Salvation Army.

Thanks for reading this post. Your comments are most welcome. Take care Rich Burgel.

(photo credit Chipguide)