Nice to see a post of your set. Mine is in Vegas so can't get to it right now or would of posted right away. THis really is a nice set. Was this picked from what Jerry Wall had can you please tell me?

People can believe what they want about my information on rarity. I know the research & records I kept up with for many years. This book did not happen overnight. I collected for near 15 years first. When I started "The Official US Casino Chip Price Guide" in 97 I talked to nearly all major dealers. I talked to many major collectors. I had my personal collection to view. I also know what I have dealt in over the years & contrary to a statement that I think Jim P. made I did talk to Jerry Wall. I bet I spent well over 100 hours with him at my house or on the phone. I recall calling him all the time when I ran into something that I was not positive on. For those of you who do not know him. He was a big chip dealer. A chip hoarder who would buy up all he could to sell to chip collectors. I sold Jerry more chips than probably anyone. Or should I say set him up with many deals. He had well over a million chips at one time. Jerry is out of touch since surviving a bad stroke about 3 years ago & has since sold his inventory to Bill Akeman in Las Vegas. Bill is setting up to sell at the Sampler Mall. He was formerly at the Gambler's General Store. If you need these chips check with him & see what is left. I have an extra $5. With shovels.

Regarding my conversation with Jerry who found the majority of the Pit Ely chips. He stated he had one box mixed. That is 100 chips only! I have no reason not to believe him. We talked further as to how many of each he had & that is where my evaluation as to what rarity category to put the chip in came from. Rarity 8 is 8 to 15 known. Rarity 7 is 16 to 30. All the chips fall in that category. Later information I have regards the .25 & .10 without picks & shovels which I know of some being sold in Connecticut which I do not believe would of been counted before my latest book. I heard a few dimes or rather 2 did have the picture.

As for Gene's chips even if he did have a set that was not included it would not change my numbers. The few of each back East would not either. I need to find out what Lou Nacie has & I can add that to my total that I know of for each denomination & see if I need to adjust my numbers up. The total I estimate to exist is at a low end 72 & high end 135 for all Pit chips.

I would like to say too that I have done more tracking of chips in Ely than any other Nevada small town. I have yet to come up with one chip from The Pit locally. I have other collectors & people seeking chips for me all over Nevada. I try to keep up with this area that I thoroughly enjoy collecting as much as possible. I have made several finds of previously unknown chips. For example one not in my book yet is the Ace Of Clubs from Ely. $5 black 4 found in Ely.

According to Harvey Fullers book "The Index of Nevada Gambling Establishments" The Pit was opened from 4-1-66 to 8-9-68 by 2 different owners. They had slots, blackjack, & poker. The last operator added Pan. Possibly the $1 chip in this last set was one needed for this game.

I list this in my book as 60's as the Ely oldtimers thought it was opened closer to the early 60's. I hope to research more in March when I travel for 10 days around Nevada. Getting into the old newspapers & finding facts such as grand opening dates is a thril.

We rarely get the information needed on how many chips were made. Finding how many are existing is a challenge. Luckily I know of many collector's who did open their collections up for us to see all. Most that post on this board though I did not get a chance to see theirs for many reasons. What is out floating has nothing to do with my rarities. If it did then they would be a guess, as some so strongly feel for some reason or another.

IF someone has a box of chips & they see I list them at a 5 or better let me know so I can change numbers in the future. It is not always easy & would of been impossinble to find out about every single chip in every collection. What I did research though I know I did a thorough job & I am satisfied with what I put in print. I have handled so many chip I have a better feel for what is out there then most if not all other collectors.