Bumping this old thread as opposed to starting a new one. The issue with categorizing chips (and effectively elevating certain categories over others) is obviously a sensitive subject, especially in the context of record high prices.
Background: while doing some research on certain cruise chips I recently acquired, I found an old conversation on a different board between collectors who were arguing wether the fact that some of the denominations were, for a short while, for sale in the Paulson store next to the CDI home poker line, made them 'fantasy' chips. And it got me thinking that, while collectability is about condition, design, features (mini rant: pls stop with the non stop use of 'leaded goodness') etc, provenance is what really sperates the great stuff from everything else (thinking about watches, cars, art, etc). So...what makes a chip a fantasy chip?
My view: in my opinion, fantasy chips are all chips that were not produced for an entity who operates gambling establishment, and ordered with the purpose of making it a form of currency inside said establishment. I think this definition settles the issue dealing with the intended purpose of use at the time of the order (hint hint NAGB), or the scope of the permissible gambling (illegals). More importantly, it doesn't matter if the chips were never used. If it was ordered by an entity operating a casino/card room/gambling space with the purpose of making it a currency of exchange (immediately after delivery or at a later date), it is certainly not a fantasy chip. If it was never live, it should be defined as 'uncirculated', as opposed to 'obsolete'. And how they ended up in our hands is completely irrelevant.
Does anyone have a different perspective?
