...accident nearly 4yrs ago now. I was planning my 1st trip to Vegas to visit my Mom who had moved there from Tucson, AZ a few years before. I've always been interested in Mobsters/Gangsters and the history of the Strip intrigued me, especially The Flamingo. Just for the hell of it I ran an search on The Flamingo Casino hoping to find something "Bugsy" related.

I found...

and the matching token, and won them both.

I was already a coin collector, so both of the items seemed to fit right in with me. One of the sellers, I forget which one, but I think it was Josh Shore who sold me the chip sent me my confirmation email with a pre-printed clause asking if I wanted to know more about Chip Collecting. I wrote back a very anxious email requesting the info. Thanks to him by the time the chip and token arrived I was already reading the Chip-Board and had paid for my application to the . Talk about getting hooked!

On that 1st trip to Vegas I went to the cage of every casino I visited, explaining I was a collector, and asked for 10 of the nicest chips they had on hand. Every one of the cage folk were very helpful, but especially The Palms and believe it or not Nevada Palace. I also "toked" $2-$3 depending on their helpfulness. I came home with $150.00 in current (at the time) Vegas chips. I selected one each of the best of them and put them together in a chip page. The rest I sold and traded. I still have those 1st "15" and will never sell them.

I still collect what I like, but my main foci are on Fractionals, Illegals, Small Town Nevada, California Card Rooms and Downtown Vegas Tokens. I also like the occasional Silver Strike, as well as Dice, Ashtrays and Swizzle Sticks and Matches.

==Mike==
R-5986

The chip at the bottom of my post is from a recent auction I won from Stu "The Count". It's from Bakersfield, CA.