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The Chip Board Archive 18

Whale Hub mold illegal chips

At the Super Bowl show I found four Hub mold chips with a picture of a whale. No other wording or numbers, just the picture. An ID tracked the chip purchase to a Carl Hamaishi with a San Francisco APO address. No other info available.

After some research I tracked down Carl who now lives in Idaho. He was indeed the one who ordered the chips, however they were delivered with an error. The chips, probably over 3000, were to be hot stamped with a phrase such as "Wale On" or something similar. The reference was to a business term meaning "go after". The chip order was misinterpreted at Mason and the chips were made with a "Whale" picture "on" the chip.

Carl was in the Air Force, stationed on Kwajalein Atol in the Marshall Islands. The Kwajalein base is part of the Ronald Reagan Missel Defence System and also an antenna site connecting GPS navigation satellites. The chips were ordered about 1966-1967 and were used on the base for card games. Carl returned to Kwajalein around 1974 or 1975 and none of the chips remained. He feels that they may have made their way to Hawaii. He did mention how nice the chips were and he thought highly of the manufacturer for their quality.

This is what makes collecting illegals and unknowns so much fun. The thrill of victory in tracking down some pertinent information.

Messages In This Thread

Whale Hub mold illegal chips
Great Work Jim, Thanks For A Whale Of a Tale! grin
Great Job & story Jim!
Very cool Jim!
Very pleasant change from the recent carping on
THANKS, JIM

Copyright 2022 David Spragg