Also, it's been quite awhile since I posted this little information piece on the plaques and some of their related chip issues, as follows from the Great Sahara Plaque Registry Project: ( http://www.thechipgallery.com/plaque.htm )

Del Webb's Sahara Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada baccarat gaming plaques were manufactured by the Bourgogne et Grasset (France) and delivered to the Sahara in 1974, in the quantities of 2000 $20, 1000 $50, 1000 $100, 1000 $500 and 200 $1,000. These gaming plaques were rather unique to American gaming, although they were and are the norm in Europe. Using these plaques was an attempt to glamorize baccarat at the Sahara, but it failed and they were then pulled from use. At a later date (unknown for now) the Sahara Hotel and Casino (or perhaps Del Webb Corporation) began giving out sets of plaques to various employees. It is unknown if the sets were matched, or if they included all five denominations ($20, $50, $100, $500 and $1,000). Over time some framed sets of four have entered the casino gaming collectibles marketplace, but it is yet to be determined if the casino created these sets (minus the $1,000 plaque) or if they were created for the collector market. Some years ago several chip dealers (individuals that sell casino chips to the collector community) were approached by an individual claiming to be a former Del Webb executive, wanting to sell a very large cache of the Sahara plaques, as well as many of the Sahara, Bud Jones manufactured Coin-in-Center (CIC) chips in the denominations of $1, $5, $25, $100 (2 types) and the $500. Also included in the "truckload" of chips were many High Sierra (another Del Webb property) chips. While the seller wanted $30,000, dealer offers for the chips and plaques started off at $6,000, went to $12,000 and ended up at about $16,000. One of the non-successful dealers counted exactly 52 of the $1,000 Sahara plaques. Since then many of these chips and plaques were sold by the dealer to the chip collecting community and eventually the dealer sold out his entire inventory to another dealer, who in turn sold his inventory to another dealer. However, this later sale did not happen before the majority of the plaque inventory was sold off separately to yet another dealer. That sell off was purported to be for around $40,000 and it is not clear if it included other inventory, or just the plaques. Presently, the remaining supply is with the two separate dealers, one of whom who has been selling his inventory of chips over the Internet (eBay) and at chip shows, and he is now down to about 30 plaques remaining. All are low denomination plaques and the dealer will be furnishing the serial numbers for this Project. The other, much larger supply of plaques, are still being researched. All told, the Sahara plaques have seen a lot of fractionalization over the years. Since only 200 of the $1,000 plaques were made it stands to reason that only 200 complete, matched serial number sets can be established, but thus far, there is only one publicly known matched set of all five plaques. Interestingly enough, that set is the premiere set, being serial number 0001. It once resided on public display at the Casino Legends Hall of Fame Museum at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada and is owned by Mr. Steven Cutler, Museum Curator and well known Nevada/Las Vegas gaming memorabilia collector.

Jim Follis
PC Member