I think it's pretty significant that there is a $1.00 on the reverse. I'm probably way off here, but with your run of the mill illegal chip, it would be cheaper to just have the initials on both side, different graphics would be more costly and this denotes a 'one use only' chip...meaning, in an illegal club you could change the denominations of a chip if it wasn't marked, this chip had to be used for a buck.

this place had specific markers/bets/tables/rules/etc.