What exactly makes people collect casino chips? Is it the round shape? After all, who hasn’t taken a coin of some type and flipped it – heads, tails, heads, tails-that’s a universal urge. But chips, I’m not sure if they evoke the same instinct, yet they hold a special allure for many collectors like us.
The fact that you can hold a chip in your hand helps, and it represents money, or better yet, it represents the quest for more money, easy money. That one little chip can be transformed into a lot more. Hell, “Tree Top” Jack Straus turned the phrase “a chip and a chair” into reality when he won the 1982 World Series of Poker Championship after being nearly busted early in the tournament.
Straus was down to just one $500 chip before doubling up several times and eventually winning the largest paying single sporting event in history (at the time), some $520,000. That chip must have been magical! And that’s how I feel about all the chips I collect.
Every chip I have is special for some reason. Some, only because I like the look of the chip, or because I traded it with somebody special (I have a few ugly chips I like because Bruce Landau or Doug Saito, and I haggled over them at some point). Others are from casinos, where I played a little poker or blackjack, sometimes winning.
However, the main reason I love casino chips is that they represent the casino itself: its history and the people who built the gaming industry. When I hold a chip from the Calneva at North Shore Lake Tahoe circa 1930, I feel connected to the past and to those who shaped it, fostering a sense of belonging and shared history.
I know Bill Graham or Jim McKay probably authorized that chip, and I cherish the stories behind it. Knowing that movie stars like Clara Bow played in the club at the time makes me feel inspired and proud to be part of this rich history.
Don’t collect chips? Well, there is still time for you to turn your life around. Maybe you already collect old dice, postcards, ashtrays, or some other casino memorabilia – and you probably feel the same thrill I do with the chips. Or maybe you don’t. Perhaps you should give it a try and see what excitement awaits.
Go ahead, I challenge you-start your own collection and see where it takes you.
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