|
The evolution of
casino chips as seen
throughout the development of the gambling industry, is an integrated
mixture of practicality and aesthetics. By visiting the many online
suppliers of these chips, and viewing their collections, it is
possible to see how the leading casinos made their mark on the gaming
world and how the equipment for gambling, even down to the most basic
unit of a simple
casino chip has had to undergo a process of development in
order to survive.
The very first units of value used in games around
the mid 19th century were things like gold nuggets or dust, which
makes absolute sense considering that poker in particular was a game
that flourished during the frontier period. Gold was eventually
replaced by chips which, like coins for monetary units, were easier to
manage than the weight of an individual nugget. Materials like ivory,
bone, wood and a concoction of clay and shellac were commonly used. At
that early stage in the industry all the chips were likely to have
been made by the saloon or casino themselves having no real suppliers
yet leading the way.
The downside of this process creating simple
hand-made chips was that the level of decoration in the design was too
low quality, making it extremely easy for players to sneak in their
own chips. It became plain to the management of these establishments
that a manufacturer was needed to create an more individual design,
through embossing, engraving, or providing some form of decoration on
the chip in order to protect the house against the dreaded
ringing-in. This was the beginning of the US Playing Card Co. in
Cincinatti, one of the first companies to create individual chips,
made to order with hand carved details. The body of the chip
eventually became the clay composition that was most popular in the
1890s through to the 1950s and soon there were thousands of
different designs in a range of colours.
Nowadays
chips suppliers are mostly dealing in plastics, our societies
material of choice for its durability and weight, and are injection
moulded. Chips are made for customers all over the world both
privately for home entertainment and the leading casinos in a huge
variety of designs. However a new business has arisen worldwide,
partly because of the new global accessibility that the internet
networking has created and that is in chip collecting.
People all over the world are going mad for
casino
chips and with a system like eBay in place where people can buy and
sell with the click of their mouse, it makes these little pieces of
gambling history accessible to anyone. The chips can be dated back to
the times of their use through the design around the edge which also
reveals the manufacturer and particularly through the inlay which
often features the casino logo. Because of the limited chips available
from the early times in gambling history when a casino was just a few
tables in a small restaurant, chips dated to pre-1940s can be worth
huge sums of money. The record to date for the sale of a casino chip
was set in 2004 when a Sands Hotel $5 chip went for a whopping
$33,000! Just goes to show that the tools of gambling as well as the
gambling itself can make your fortune.
The internet is a great way to do your research into
the manufacturer and suppliers of these valuable little pieces of art.
You never know what that chip you have tucked away in your desk drawer
might be worth one day.
|
