This brings up a story of my last trip to Las Vegas. I reported this before, back in Late June or July, after I had returned. On my return trip, I got stopped by security when my carry-on bags raised the suspicions of a screener. After putting my bags through the X-Ray the checker asked if I was a courier. I told him no and he asked if there was any need for a secure private search as they were going to have to check my bags. I told him that there was no need for that and he asked if I was carrying any gemstones. Again the answer was no and my response was the closest thing to jewelry that I had was some Mardi Gras beeds from The Orleans. He wasn't interested in those, as I later found because they were too regular in shape and size. He said that something in my bag had created an image of black chunks in irregular shapes and sizes. I was very confused to what that might be. The screener systematically and delicately went through my bag and went right for the area where the suspicious items were. He went through the beeds which were on the top of the bag, all the way to the bottom and pulled out 2 bottles saying this is what I am looking for. His hand emerged with the souvenier bottles shaped like slot machines that contained crushed casino chips identified on the labels as Authentic Lost Wages.... He chuckled as he declared his success in finding the source of his suspicion. I asked him why they would create such an image as they are just plastic and clay. His reply was that some of the colors of some old chips were created by using lead and other metals. I think Lead is used in some white pigments. Anyways, he told me how some of the chips likely contained lead and other metals that were making them appear black on the xray. As I said, I posted this last summer and some responses were, as are being suggested above, additions for weight and for security features.

To see pictures of the bottles in question Click below.

http://members.aol.com/wmas1960/homepages/crushed_chips.htm