1 Week to go!

Today's final *Thursday's Millions* will show some of the chips and tokens from my Million Dollar Display collection.

First off, here are the most common Million Dollar Display chips, that Binion’s Horseshoe put out several years ago. Front and back are the same..

I also have a $100 chip from this issue, but it is locked away in my safe deposit box along with my other more valuable chips..but here is a photo of what it looks like, courtesy of The Chipguide..

They never made a $2.50 pink ‘snapper’ in this issue. The only other denomination is the $500 purple one, which I mentioned in last week’s *’Thursday’s Millions* and is part of My MDD Wishlist.

Here is another set of chips showing the Million Dollar Display. This is a set of three different $5 chips, all showing the Million Dollar Display on one side, commemorating 50 years.

The first shows 1950 when the location of the Horseshoe was the Hotel Apache. The second one shows Binion’s Horseshoe in 1975. The third shows Binion’s Horseshoe and the Fremont Street Experience in the millennium year of 2000..

The next is one of my very favorite chips. Several years ago, this was a pretty pricey chip. However, later it was found to be one of the infamous Horseshoe ‘hoard’ chips, and now can be had very cheaply. It is a $5,000 Chip. I own two of these chips, which luckily I bought AFTER the hoard was discovered.. I keep one in my collection, and the other I sometimes use as a chip protector when I am playing poker in San Diego or Las Vegas..

The next two chips are ‘fantasy” chips made by the Gambler’s General Store in Las Vegas. They show the Million Dollar Display back when it first appeared in 1951. If anyone knows of any colors other than the green or gray shown, please let me know..

The Horseshoe made a couple of very different looking $5 tokens showing the Million Dollar Display. One in silver color, the other gold. They also made a $25 token, which had alluded me for years.

I bid on one about five years ago on Ebay, and it ended up going for several hundred dollars. I hadn’t seen another one up until a year or two ago. Fortunately, I was able to win the token for much less than that. Here are photos off all three of these tokens, front and back. Note, the $25 token is actually smaller than the $5 ones..

Here’s a funny story..when I first started to collect MDD items, I was browsing at a coin shop when I noticed this silver item..

What was this? Was it rare? Was it a gift for VIP’s? I bought it for about $10, was thrilled with my new ‘find’ and went home.

Then a few days later, I was looking at chips and tokens on Ebay, using my usual searches, and a lightbulb went off in my head.

No, this wasn’t some rare coin or token..someone had just removed the brass metal ring around a silver strike, and this was the silver middle that remained. I kept this as a reminder that we don’t always know as much as we think we do when it comes to this hobby.

Here is what a complete MDD silver strike looks like. Front and back are shown..

Well..that concludes the 10 week odyssey showing some of the items from my Million Dollar Display collection.

Thank you to all who have sold and/or traded me items through the years and have shown interest in my collection. I hope you have found these Posts interesting.

Here is wishing everyone safe travels to the convention next week..