I think I first spoke to Tom in 2003 when I found the yellow A of the first issue roulettes that were unknown at the time and he contacted me about possibly buying it and then he contacted the manufacturer to see if they could give him any information about them, which they did.
I managed to get in contact with Victor Lownes in 2006 to ask if he remembered anything about the Playboy chips. This was before I had received the Playboy book from Tom so I didn't know about the plaques or I would have asked him. He couldn't remember anything about the chips and didn't mention anything about the plaques.
In 2007 I contacted Ed Petty who worked at both Playboy and the Clermont who told me who the jeweller was who made THE gold plaque.
I spoke to him (the jeweller) and although he was very cagey about it he did tell me that the one he made was a Clermont one and he specifically said it wasn't Playboy and that it had no diamonds. He only made 1 and it had no diamonds. Obviously somebody else could have made the Playboy one before but that was when I first thought that maybe they had been mixed up and the story had changed over the years as they were similar.
I also spoke to the chap who was GM when the Clermont closed and he told me that there were no Playboy Clermont gaming items and how much the gold plaque cost (although he may have mixed it up with the value at the time of closing). He also told me that it was sold when Mecca owned the club and for how much although he didn't say who bought it although he probably didn't know.
I have asked many staff (including management) about a Playboy gold plaque and none of them remember one.
That is what I base my "suspicions" on and could be totally wrong but it would still be great to know either way.
I will continue to see if I can find somebody who can remember the Playboy one but we may never know for sure.