The $500 to $600 value in Dale's book is about half of current value. Also, the riverboat chips were not made for riverboats. A series of bracelets were made, probably in the late 1800s, to be worn strictly as decoration. The chips used were recarved from the typical leaf/flower/bud/5/25 chips that were in abundance at the time. The Robt. E. Lee chip below from my collection was recarved from an ordinay $5 chip. The color from the rim was removed and lettering was added. Next to those is a similar "normal" $5 chip from my collection. See how it can be done?

Below those chips is another boat chip still in the decorative bezel that that it came in. Again, whatever was originally in the center was removed and the boat/lettering was added. The chip was NEVER used on a boat. Having said all that, they are rare and very expensive.