Not long after the Paris "French" Roulette table opened, I was in Vegas for the Super Bowl Chip Show. Being an avid Roulette player I went over to Paris to check out the Roulette action. When I arrived at the Casino they were setting up the table and putting out the Jetons and Plaques to begin play for the night. I bought in for a couple of hundred dollars and began playing. I think the minimum was $25 per spin using $5.00 Jetons. When I sat down to play my old friend Bruce Landau came up and stood behind me and watched me play. I got lucky and hit a couple of numbers and started accumulating stacks of Jetons. As I gathered more and more of the $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 Jrtons, I began to squirrel them away in my pockets. At the same time Bruce kept whispering in my ear - "Jerry, I need the $20 with the stripe, I need the $50 with the 3 edge marks, etc." I gave Bruce whatever he wanted and he paid me for the Jetons. A little later - I got real lucky and hit a number straight up for $50 and won $1750 !! I continued to play and accumulate Jetons - my pockets were full !! I decide to cash in my winning that I had on the table. The dealer colored up my chips and handed me a $1000 Beautiful Large Yellow Jeton and a few other smaller Jetons. I left the table and headed for the Cashier's cage. I stood in line with my pockets full of 100s of dollars of assorted Jetons. and the $1000 Jeton in my hand. I wondered if I should keep the $1000 Jeton or cash it in ?? I finally decided to cash in the $1000 Jeton as that was a lot of money to tie up in a single Jeton.
A few months later they closed the French Roulette Table and the Jetons became very collectible.
Needless to say I have regretted the decision to cash in the $1000 Jeton many times over the years as that $1000 Jeton would now be worth way more than $1000.
I think there is maybe one $1000 Jeton and 2 or 3 $500 Paris Jetons in collections today.
The good part of the story is that I got all the Jetons from $5 to $100 that I needed for my collection and I sold and traded a bunch of other ones over the next couple of years.
Take care,
Jerry
PS - I later acquired this neat sign that is now in my Chip Museum !! A nice reminder of a Great night at the Paris "French" Roulette table.