In follow up to my last posting about the Main Street Station casino's, "Women For All Seasons," matched serial numbered sets of 7 chips, available at $300, have all been sold.
As noted in my last offering, once the $300 each, per sets, were sold, the Consignor would be offering a few, smaller serial numbered sets, as noted in the image of Serial Numbered set: 0020.

As noted in the original offering:

I have some interesting news in the previously impossible quest to acquiring a matched, serial numbered set of the 7-piece, Limited Edition, Five Dollar, Main Street Station, “Women For All Seasons,” chipset featuring artist Alphonse Mucha’s, Art Nouveau ladies, that we collectors typically call the Mucha chips.
The exciting news is that after 28 years, some matched, serial numbered sets have come out of hiding and I have the exclusive right to sell these sets, on a consignment basis, to other collectors. As of this writing, I have 3 sets available to sell, right now, on a first come, first served basis.

Yes, there are other matched serial number sets, but they are being doled out to me, 2 or 3 at a time, by the seller. As I sell each set, they get replenished from the seller’s sets, which I have been told and believe, is limited to serial numbers 0001 – 0025, only (with S/N 0011 missing 1 chip, and not being offered). Of those 24 sets, at least 5 have already been dispositioned to collectors (0021 - 0025) and some have been tagged as key-stone numbers. (Most certainly numbers 0001 – 0007 and 0013.) Available right now are several sets, priced as noted in the image.

I've done some background research on these chips and have become aware of some interesting information. It would appear that the descriptive names used to describe each chip in The Chip Rack (TCR), probably came from the TCR authors back in 1997 (or shortly thereafter). Over time, those descriptions have carried over into ChipGuide description and also for how some collectors refer to each chip to differentiate one design from another. However, each piece of artwork has an actual title, as given by the artist of his Art Nouveau styled paintings and posters.

Original artwork for four of the 7 Mucha chips was created from a Series of art pieces by the artist, that are collectively referred to as “Seasons”. Each of the four pieces were individually entitled as: “Winter”, “Spring”, “Summer” and “Autumn” (Fall). The other three chips were created from other Mucha artwork entitled: “Ivy”, “Meuse Beer” (from an advertising poster) and “Lady in Green”.

I was told that the original design concept for the chips was a tribute to the Art Nouveau theme, which complimented the interior design and furnishings of the Main Street Station casino in 1997. When released by the casino, (over a 7-month period) they were promoted as “Women For All Seasons”.

There was a bit of controversy among collectors, in the way that the 7 different chips were released from the cage and put on the tables, as the process made it impossible to acquire a matched, serial numbered set. The first release was from the cage and only included one of the 7 chip versions. Customers were allowed 1 chip only. The release of the 2nd version of the series was done 2 months later, with the same conditions. Over a 7-month period, all of the versions were finally released and also put on the tables.

As a minor note, after the 1st day of any version’s release, some of those chips were also put on the tables, and, when those chips came back to the cage (cashing in) they were grouped together and used to supply people that came to the cage to buy a souvenir. (So, some chips released from the cage of this series were, in fact, circulated.) If you have some already, you may want to look closely as they may have been sold to you as uncirculated, but in fact, may not.

However, all of these matched, serial numbered sets are uncirculated and have been sitting in racks, in a safe and protected area, for the past 28 years. Perhaps it is time to upgrade your mis-matched serial number set(s) for the real thing offered here. But you MUST act soon, because the seller has advised that I can offer these sets at 350 dollars each and once sold, the next group to-be-released will be offered at 400 dollars, per set.

Thank you for your attention and possible interest in this unique opportunity.

Contact me for additional details.

Jim

ps. The attached image shows both sides of serial number set 0020.