Nice responses from both Roberts. After many years of collecting, samples (HC Edwards specifically) are the only chips I collect.

Old samples can come from a number of sources - the manufacture, the distributor/salesmen or the casinos themselves...

- The manufacture would keep a casino approved sample chip on file for re-orders. These are production samples and are usually notched, sometimes drilled. The manufacture would also produce chips for advertising purposes.

- The distributor/salesman would have advertising and production samples to display for prospective customers.

- The casinos would have production samples of approved and proposed chip designs (possible color combinations) to vet.

Depending on the rarity of the chip, the only known example may be a notched sample. In addition, sample chips that were not approved by the casino and only exist in sample form are quite rare. These chips are usually a color variation of the approved chip.

Pete