I'm a journalist working on a book at home, and want to sell my modest collection of Nevada gaming chips. I'm seeking advice on its worth, and whether I should try selling the collection as a whole on E-Bay or elsewhere, or to sell the chips individuallly.
In the late eighties and early nineties, I made an effort to visit as many Nevada towns with casinos as I could (playing at least a few hands of blackjack at each casino). In all, I acquired 185 chips from 128 casinos. Two-thirds are $5 chips (128), the rest $1 (49), $2.50 (6), and $0.25 (2). Most are lightly used.

The majority of chips are from northern Nevada casinos, including Tonopah, Ely, Winnemucca, Yerington, Elko, Montgomery Pass, Lovelock, Hawthorne, Fallon, Battle Mountain, Reno, Carson City, and Tahoe.

Another sixty chips are from southern Nevada, including $5 chips from 44 Las Vegas casinos, 7 Laughlin casinos, 4 from Jean, and 4 from Henderson. Some of the casinos, such as the Dunes and Desert Inn, are now closed.

I did not wade through all of E-Bay's thousands of listings. What I did see were mostly offers of individual chips, or small sets. I did not see any offers of collections of more than twenty chips.

I don't know what a fair or reasonable price would be. The face value of the chips is around $700. My inclination would be to sell the collection intact, and ask for a minimum bid of at least half the face value, and hope for an offer that approaches face value.

Advice would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Patrick "Pat" McCartney
Truckee, California