John's answer as to his "Texas Belle" is accurate and, of course, makes for an interesting story. In any event, Dale's book on Antique Gambling chips is a must; he has two pages devoted to "recent creations"--where you'll find the fake Texas Belle and can see the difference between the two shown there and John's. I know of one collector who bought a substantial number of what he thought to be genuine ivories at a Las Vegas gun show some 10 or more years ago; he learned promptly that they were recreations and I think was able to get his money back--a lot of money. But he was so angry at what happened that he quit collecting. I have the Ace steamboat chips [p.218]--four in number on a little old wooden stand with what appears to be very aged ivory with a scrimshawed description on it. I knew they were fakes because Alan Myers and Dale told me about them--but I got them for pennies and I treasure the "fakes." A year later at another gun show I picked up one of Arcadian St. Louis chips [$20] shown on page 219--again, I knew or suspected it was phony but got it with a beautiful $25 chip for a total of $65 which I would have paid for the genuine one alone.

In the old days, all we could do was telephone a friend before buying [and then chance on losing out on the buy]--now we have almost instant access to reliable sources. There are still "recreations" out there. Some of the recreations are made after the artisan scrapes off the old design--and often that old design still faintly shows, particularly around the edges of the chips.

I too collect ivories and will bring my "fakes" to the CC&GTCC show at the Orleans. See you there.