However, let me first say Welcome to TheChipBoard! Thanks for using a real name and especially wanting to learn!

So, we now know, from various other reply posts here, that the red (and green) chips were released at a time after Sinatra ownership and in a quantity of 2,500.

It appears that your Seller was a bit disingenuine in the eBay offering, in that they used the term "R8", a population count of surviving chips, that corresponds to 8 - 15 known chips. The disingenuine part comes to play when it is not represented that the book is now 9 years old, and moreover, the book indicates that the red chip is a 16th issued chip, and the green was a 17th issue chip. These issue references are important in that the guide very specifically shows that the 13th issued $1 chip, was verified to be from the Sinatra ownership period.

So, of the 2,500, it now seems that during the ensuing 9 years, more chips have been found. In fact, the "2,500" release quantity is from the most up-to-date, Nevada price guide, The Chip Rack, or TCR. As already mentioned, pricing for the red chip is an "M" value, representing a range of $100 - $124. This is an indicator that more chips are in the market. BTW - the green is "H: valued, with a $30 - $39 value.

Regrettably, we see such things somewhat often, and many collectors are here to help others.

Lastly, I'd like to address the question you had about chip destruction. While Nevada Gaming does have a Regulation about the destruction of chips, said requirement has several loopholes. Perhaps the best example I can give is about a series of chips you are probably well familiar with, being a home game set collector. My example is the Dunes final issue, golf course chips. The entire rack is in the collector community and none were destroyed, canceled or anything! It is said that the Dunes ordered the entire rack, shortly before going out of business, and in fact, ordered at a time knowing of the pending bancrupcy. They were delivered shortly before the closing.

In accordance with Gaming Regulations, which stipulated that chip destruction methods required their approval. Casino representatives asked Gaming if they could "destroy" the chips by making souvenirs from them. Keychains, money clips, etc. Gaming approved the action, but it never happened and the assets of the Dunes were sold (in auction, I believe). They then entered the collector marketplace and there was such a massive quantity, you can still buy groups of some denominations at retail to this day.

This explains why nearly all the golf course chips are like-new. Even though there are home game set collectors with these chips, they tend to not play them very much.

I suspect that the reason the Cal-Neva chips exist today is because verification of destruction was not well enforced back then.

Please feel free to begin collecting singles. After all, you have some great traders there!!!

Jim