Casino chips belong to a category of numismatics known as 'exonumia' (money substitutes), and collections of chips are as varied as those of coins. There are collectors who seek out chips of specific denominations, like the $2.50 (or equivalent) 'snappers' used at blackjack tables. Once, while travelling, I found a casino that had changed their chips out (and their name) - the old chips were no longer negotiable. They were selling off boxes of low denomination chips (60x $5, 20x $1 - $340 face value) for $10 - about 3% of face value. IMO, the frames are worth more than the chips, and I wouldn't pay more than $10 a frame.

Casino chip collection is one of the most interesting and rewarding collection hobbies since there are thousands of different types of chips which can be found all over the world today. Casino chips are durable, with elaborate designs and many of them are even of limited editions.

How chip collections begin

How to start collecting? Usually most collections begin with one or two chips being retained by the player as a souvenir. As the designs of most casino chips being so intricate and interesting, most players are often intrigued and begin retaining a chip from every casino that they visit. This is how most collectors begin their chip collections. However, casino chips do not have to be sneaked away from the casinos since most casinos would be more than willing to sell as many chips as required.

History of chip collections

Value Of Casino Chips

Chip collection has been around as a hobby since probably as long as the chips have been around. However, it has only been in the recent years that the chip collection has gained popularity as a hobby due to the increase in people playing free roulette, blackjack, poker and other casino games worldwide. It was in the 1930s when gambling had been made legal in Las Vegas and with that several casinos were established which eventually led to the use of casino chips.

In the earlier days, sneaking out chips from the casinos was not allowed and was considered to be a contraband. Today The Casino Chips and Gaming Tokens Collectors Club has the largest number of chip collectors as members in the world. It was in 1987 that ChipCo first introduced a manufacturing method by which full graphics could be imprinted on the surface of the chips and with came the age with decorated chips which had casino logs along with rich graphics and texts. It was then that the real age of chip collection began since almost all casinos had their own unique version of chips with their custom design imprinted on the chips.

The growth of chip collecting

In the 1980s when the casinos first realized that their stock of chips had been depleting over the time, they realized the true potential of chip collection as a business. Many manufacturers then came up with special limited edition casino chips which were targeted towards the chip collectors. They were only produced in very small numbers which made them more valuable. Since then several commemorative chips have been introduced in the market for every occasion and every celebration.

Even casinos began to offer their promotional chips to the collectors and over the years chip collection soared as not only a hobby but a very rewarding business for the casinos as well as the collectors since rare chips often sell for thousands of dollars at auctions.

Ebay Casino Chips

Most collectors today collect chips from $1 to $25. Some collectors often stick to a particular niche and collect only those chips according to the age, location or any other category. Several collectors often go to the lengths to even travel to different countries in order to collect chips from the international casinos. Chip collection and chip collectors have definitely evolved over the past few years.