Of where I search for my "finds". I would say I go as far north as Redding, Ca and south to Stockton, Ca. West to San Francisco and east to Reno.
I go to 2 large Antique Faires a month (Sacramento and San Francisco Bay Area)and hit many antique shops, coin shops, and 2nd hand stores. There are also other Regional Faires that go on twice a year. I talk to many people while searching. I try to be respectful when asking for chips. I engage in other conversation as well and when they say "sorry no chips today" I don't just turn around and leave. I talk to them to find out what they like and if I see something they might have interest in.... I tell 'em " Oh...I saw that over there. Two rows over." Looking for chips sometimes consumes my life.
I also spend any where from 2-8 hours a day searching the Internet for lost stories on chips and old Clubs. I have about 30 different research projects that I have been working on. Some are close to being done, but I hit a few snags here and there that might not make sense, so I feel the story isn't finished.
I understand not being able to find chips. We went to Colorado and Wyoming about 2 months ago and I went into every antique store with in 20 miles of EVERY town we went through. I saw very few of the local casino chips in some of these stores, but I really enjoy finding the "unknown chip". So I passed on most of the local chips. I was thinking......how can anyone live in these towns without finding chips!! 😀
For the amount of hours I spend looking....I don't think I find too much. There are chips out there waiting to be found. Thanks for your reply.