Gene; I too purchased a copy of Bill Borland's autographed "Blue Book" many years ago... and since then I have aquired another copy which I have donated to the club library. If any club member wishes to borrow the book from the club library, they should get in touch with Club Librarian, Bob Pardue and request it. My criticism of Borland's book and his numbering system was that he gave a separate catalog numbers (or more correctly called an inventory number) for the same chip in different conditions. For example, if the chip was notched, it had one number. If it was un- notched it had a different number. If it was new condition is got a third number and if it was worn it received even a fourth number. My copy of the book has a great story about the SilverBird hoard that Bill had sued and won to obtain as inventory for his Wide World Casino Exchange. I'll have to dig it out and re-read it again.

I got some terrific buys from Bill and Starr. In fact, I bought out all of Bill's Atlantic City inventory on my very first trip to Vegas for close to $1800, which was a lot of money back for me back then. Much of it was $1, $2.50, $5 current chips at the time which I brought back with me and simply redeemed them at the cashier's cages in A.C. Today, most of it would be obsolete chips from Boardwalk Regency, Resorts, Playboy, Golden Nugget, Tropicana, etc. Of course there were no Limited Editions back then. I particularly recall purchasing a half dozen pieces of the now rare $2.50 Playboy back up chip with olive letters for $8 each. I sold them back then for around $15@ to the few collectors I knew at the time. Today the chip fetches well into four figures whenever one is offered for sale. I think there is one in Bob Mera's 30 day auction as I type this post. Oh, if we only knew then what we know now! But then today's new collector may be telling similar recounts of chip stories 15-20 years from now. Those were the good old days.... today may be the good new days.
I liked Bill. Didn't care for his "commemorative series" of closed casinos that were issued in memory of Starr. He only charged $2 each for them, but lots of new collectors today are still getting burned on them because they don't know any better.... nor do the unknowledgeable flea market vendors who sold a lot of them. Starr was the brains behind that operation. I'm told that Bill didn't even know the combination of the safe when she died. I don't know how he ever found anything on his desk with stuff piled litterally a foot high in chips all around. He was quite a Vegas character. I believe he was a captain or Maitre de at one of the larger casino showrooms in town. I recall hundreds of pictures of him with many headliner stars on the walls of his cluttered office in the industrial park where he had his "showroom". Rest in peace Bill. If you could only see what is going on today .........