Some chippers have asked me where all the cheap older chips come from. In addition to the few taken home by gamblers, there have been a number of cases where large quantities have become available to the hobby after they are not needed by the casino. Here are some Nevada examples:

Never Opened:

Jocky Club, Las Vegas: BudJones coin-inlay, never licensed.

Shenandoah, Las Vegas

World Trade Center, Las Vegas

Casino closed:

Dunes: last rack, 1989, tens of thousands sold to dealers in the 1990's. All denominations included, including baccarat to $25,000 denomination.

Mapes: Many, many chips of various in dealer's hands after closure.

Horseshoe Reno, Many recent chips made available to dealers after closure.

Binions Horseshoe, LV: I don't know the details, but many many older chips as well as current chips found their way into the hobby in the last 4-5 years. That's where all the ARODIE molds came from.

Harolds Club: Many portrait chips stored in warehouse and released to the hobby about 10 years ago. Some drilled, some with flattened edges from high-temperatures, some intact. Many of the Harolds portrait chips were NOT found in this trove and are still very scarce, even drilled.

I see enough high denomination chips from Sands Las Vegas, King-8, and Bourbon Street to believe there were significant quantities of these sold to dealers after closure.

Cancelled and sold by casino:

Holiday, Las Vegas: Available in sets at the cashier cage. Hot stamp cancel.

Monte Carlo, Reno: Hot stamp cancel.

I'm not a dealer, so was not in on any of the deals to split up large lots that were available, although I was in the group that tried to buy Dunes "golf course" design chips from the attorney after the bankruptcy. We never got any [g].

There were undoubtedly more situations like these, some consisting of just a box or so, many consisting of NCV's that were no longer in use by the casino.

Anyone want to add to this list? Again, such a compendium might be a useful reference to include on the Club site.