A large quantity of the yellow $1 The Chalet chips were sold on ebay. The buyer sent me a few of them. I had seen them before and considered them a UFC per TGT. The Skey molded chips were distributed by BC Wills in Detroit, MI and later had an office in Reno, NV 1937-1965. No records exist from BC Wills and many of their chips are UFC's.

There also exists chips with the DiSq mold with The Chalet. TGT attributes them to Kansas City, MO. Per Harvy Fullers index of NV Gaming licenses there was a The Chalet in Reno, NV but no dates, names, or other info. Was it ever opened? We also found evidence there was a The Chalet in MT. TGT lists a "Chalet Club" in Detroit.

This research is all about The Chalet in Detroit that would have been ran by Lincoln Fitzgerald for the Detroit mob. Fitzgerald later moved to Reno, NV and opened the Nevada Club in 1946.

Now you know the "Back Story."

What the heck, let's take a look!

Enter our "Friend Of The Hobby" and Ed Hertel.

Friend:
Saw the post about The Chalet. I got this small-key Chalet about a year ago and tried to come up with something.

One possibility is that the chip may be from The Chalet in East Detroit which was apparently run by the same guys who had the Chesterfield (also in East Detroit). Both were well known gambling places and often mentioned in the same breath.

I see that the eBay seller of the $1 yellow Chalet chips was from Michigan. Probably hard to prove, but a decent chance that the small-key Chalet might be East Detroit.

Chesterfield chip:

My note: The 24845 chips were found in Lincoln Fitzgerald's estate in Reno along with other Chesterfield Club chips. It is said he actually used the CC, USPC chips in his Reno, Nevada Club.

pic of The Chalet (located on 8 Mile Rd. near the intersection of Gratiot Ave., just north of the Detroit/East Detroit city line and Wayne County & Macomb County line)

My note: Interesting that the Governor of Michigan last name was Fitzgerald. Coincidence? The article says in later years the place was called Club Royale. Where are the chips?

Still doing some follow-up on the "The Chalet" chips. I contacted the seller who sold the chips. First thing she noted, said was that there were no more. She said in researching past auctions she found one sold and in the description it said it was from a brothel in St. Louis. I'm assuming this was because of the Missouri attribution of the diasqr. I asked her where she got them. She couldn't remember specifically since she's had them a long time, but "most likely an auction or estate sale in Michigan."

I think the Michigan attribution for the smkey chips is probably pretty fair. We'll never know for sure. One thing that is interesting though. In the auction for the Chalet chips she also had almost 300 smkey chips marked "JS" (and some cardboard "Stop Monkeying Around" chips). She said she originally bought them all together in the chip carousel, so there might be a connection with JS and The Chalet.

Who knows. I guess if it was easy it wouldn't be as much fun.

My note: I really like the Detroit attribution for The Chalet Skey chips. No I can't prove it.
We found 4 places called The Chalet, MT, MO, NV, and Detroit MI.

I have seen no info on the MO place.

The MT, The Chalet was a nice place from the info I have.

I don't believe the NV one ever opened. Did Lincoln Fitzgerald start the NV gaming licensing process for it but never used the name?

The Chalet chips we have were found at an estate sale in Michigan.

What do you think?