Most Beautiful Casino Racks (2 Viewers)

FDLmold said:
Was browsing Caribbean chips this week. I found one from Haiti that I liked, so I checked out the rest of the casino in chipguide. There wasn't much...

View attachment 946090

I love these two chips. Unfortunately, that's all we've got. Chipguide has sod all for other information. I wish there was a Paulson historian with access to records who would share information with us. When did this casino order chips? What do the rest look like? I'd love to know.
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4 different spot colours on an 8V chip. Nice! Always wondered if that could be done. Now we know.
 
davislane said:
4 different spot colours on an 8V chip. Nice! Always wondered if that could be done. Now we know.
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If it's never been seen before, then chances are good this was a one-off prototype. I think it's a great chip, even with all the holes and divots.
 
These chips come from one of our favorite stories. A casino gets going full steam ahead to open, they get chips and tables and land (or a boat). All is going well, then boom, the regulating authorities DENY the license. Paulson New Yorker, Jack Detroit (ok not quite the same story), Empress Star, Aurora Star, the list goes on and on. So what happens to the beautiful chips from these unopened casinos? If we're lucky, WE get them. These chips are pre-internet though. 1992 is the date I've seen the most often, and that's exactly when Paulson was making their best chips of all time. Leaded chips with textured inlays, and I don't think the shitty RHC mold was born yet. These sold for 65 cents each in Paulson retail stores.

capitol city.png


Boom shaka laka! So fine. My favorites are the yellow $1, and the shaped inlay $5-$25-$100. If you had infinity dollars, you could probably put together a set like that and shake the chips loose. They are out there.
 
FDLmold said:
These chips come from one of our favorite stories. A casino gets going full steam ahead to open, they get chips and tables and land (or a boat). All is going well, then boom, the regulating authorities DENY the license. Paulson New Yorker, Jack Detroit (ok not quite the same story), Empress Star, Aurora Star, the list goes on and on. So what happens to the beautiful chips from these unopened casinos? If we're lucky, WE get them. These chips are pre-internet though. 1992 is the date I've seen the most often, and that's exactly when Paulson was making their best chips of all time. Leaded chips with textured inlays, and I don't think the shitty RHC mold was born yet. These sold for 65 cents each in Paulson retail stores.

View attachment 953957

Boom shaka laka! So fine. My favorites are the yellow $1, and the shaped inlay $5-$25-$100. If you had infinity dollars, you could probably put together a set like that and shake the chips loose. They are out there.
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I could ONLY imagine walking into Paulson's shop in the 90s and picking out the most baller sets possible. Sitting on those bad boys, playing with them here and there and looking at prices/what the hobby has turned into now. Absolutely crazy! The set I would've made out of these would go like this: Yellow $1, 4V $5, Shaped Inlay $20, Bear claw $100 and IHC $500! That would have been the GOAT set for this casino.
 
FDLmold said:
You know what I mean.

(image removed per google policy)

No no no, not that. These.

View attachment 182200
So when I say casino rack, I mean it as the totality of all chips anywhere in the casino. Chips are art. Most casinos have a couple beautiful chips with some dogs, and some have nothing but a giant collection of disc-shaped turds. But then there are those casino racks that speak to your soul. You see every chip and you want to take them all home with you. THAT is what I mean by "beautiful casino rack".

I intend this thread to showcase what people consider the most beautiful casino racks. Please contribute your own, but try to include pictures of all the chips. Individually if you can, but in trays and racks if other images are not available. Some commentary is helpful as well.

Most folks around here hold the ARIA chips above in high regard. The five is a little weak and uninspired, but everything else is spectacular. The five would be a fine chip in most casinos I imagine. If Nevada changed their rules and allowed chips onto the free market after being retired, you would see a piranha frenzy over these.

View attachment 182201

Lac Courte Oreilles Casino has been rebranded, these chips are not live and appear on eBay every once in a while. Maybe it is just the scan, but the five and twenty-five appear extremely bright to me. It would be a shame if they destroyed these chips when they retired them. They are all fantastic, except the 50c chip of course.

View attachment 182203
These are my favorite Gardena CA chips. There are variations of a few of them, so I picked my favorites. I would pay a lot for a micro set with at least a rack each of 5c through $1 chips. TRK sweetness here! The casino closed long ago, but I think all these chips survived. Somebody here has this set below that makes me just a little jealous.

View attachment 182207

Moving on

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These Soaring Eagle chips (Mt Pleasant MI) were not on my radar until recently. I obtained the 50c and both $1 chips in a transaction, mostly for the 50c chip because I collect casino fractional chips with inlays. The chips are RHC with textured inlays, and they started speaking to me. I went to chipguide to look at the rest and was very surprised. The second five dollar chip looks like it's on fire. The casino is open, but these chips are now obsolete. It's Michigan, and I think the chips get destroyed. Pity, because I'd buy buckets of the lower denominations.

That's all for now. Grand Casino Gulfport is the only one that comes to mind that I would have maybe added. Maybe another day.
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I have a few of the Soaring Eagle chips. Just a single $1 and $5 I believe.
 
It's been a month or so. The mail pr0n thread got derailed into a conversation about these wonderful NCV chips from Caesars Palace. I had no idea the extent of the values that Caesars had in this series. There are ten!

1660619273819.png


Best NCV chips ever? Probably not, but you'd be justified to mention them in the conversation. The 1-5-25 is weak, because the 5 edgespot is basically the 1's color, and the 25 edgespot is basically the 5's color. After that, though, you'd not get any of the denominations mixed up. Full sample set please! Add to it that the 25-100-500 were used in filming an episode of The Sopranos, and they are from an iconic Vegas Strip casino, I imagine these would cost A LOT.
 
FDLmold said:
It's been a month or so. The mail pr0n thread got derailed into a conversation about these wonderful NCV chips from Caesars Palace. I had no idea the extent of the values that Caesars had in this series. There are ten!

View attachment 968247

Best NCV chips ever? Probably not, but you'd be justified to mention them in the conversation. The 1-5-25 is weak, because the 5 edgespot is basically the 1's color, and the 25 edgespot is basically the 5's color. After that, though, you'd not get any of the denominations mixed up. Full sample set please! Add to it that the 25-100-500 were used in filming an episode of The Sopranos, and they are from an iconic Vegas Strip casino, I imagine these would cost A LOT.
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That $25k is crazy looking. Having a set of these in general would be godly. Next level Vegas NCV set right here.
 
FDLmold said:
It's been a month or so. The mail pr0n thread got derailed into a conversation about these wonderful NCV chips from Caesars Palace. I had no idea the extent of the values that Caesars had in this series. There are ten!

View attachment 968247

Best NCV chips ever? Probably not, but you'd be justified to mention them in the conversation. The 1-5-25 is weak, because the 5 edgespot is basically the 1's color, and the 25 edgespot is basically the 5's color. After that, though, you'd not get any of the denominations mixed up. Full sample set please! Add to it that the 25-100-500 were used in filming an episode of The Sopranos, and they are from an iconic Vegas Strip casino, I imagine these would cost A LOT.
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I just died
 
FDLmold said:
It's been a month or so. The mail pr0n thread got derailed into a conversation about these wonderful NCV chips from Caesars Palace. I had no idea the extent of the values that Caesars had in this series. There are ten!

View attachment 968247

Best NCV chips ever? Probably not, but you'd be justified to mention them in the conversation. The 1-5-25 is weak, because the 5 edgespot is basically the 1's color, and the 25 edgespot is basically the 5's color. After that, though, you'd not get any of the denominations mixed up. Full sample set please! Add to it that the 25-100-500 were used in filming an episode of The Sopranos, and they are from an iconic Vegas Strip casino, I imagine these would cost A LOT.
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That 25k might have been part of the inspiration for the $1 in my Arizona Club set. :oops:
E1A4DB32-6737-48E2-BB81-C2668872B342.jpeg
 
FDLmold said:
It's been a month or so. The mail pr0n thread got derailed into a conversation about these wonderful NCV chips from Caesars Palace. I had no idea the extent of the values that Caesars had in this series. There are ten!

View attachment 968247

Best NCV chips ever? Probably not, but you'd be justified to mention them in the conversation. The 1-5-25 is weak, because the 5 edgespot is basically the 1's color, and the 25 edgespot is basically the 5's color. After that, though, you'd not get any of the denominations mixed up. Full sample set please! Add to it that the 25-100-500 were used in filming an episode of The Sopranos, and they are from an iconic Vegas Strip casino, I imagine these would cost A LOT.
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I will not hear any criticisms!
GOAT ncv set? It’s this or the Binions WSOP 8vs. And the tiebreaker goes to the Binions. But that doesn’t make these any less of a GOAT.
 
upNdown said:
I will not hear any criticisms!
GOAT ncv set? It’s this or the Binions WSOP 8vs. And the tiebreaker goes to the Binions. But that doesn’t make these any less of a GOAT.
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The people who love the French Airplane Club tourney chips would probably want to throw down in that convo too.
 
It's been a month. Time for a new casino, with some beautiful chips!

Paulson made A LOT of all-time THC chips for Caribbean casinos. There were two casinos in the Caribbean under the name "Alhambra". One was in Aruba, one was in St Maarten. You've got two of the all time best $100 chips here, and the fives and twenty-fives are great chips too. In the interest of disclosure, I own some of these (just singles mind you) and am looking for more, especially these fine fine hundos.

alhambra.jpg


Images courtesy of chipguide. Nice chips!
 
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FDLmold said:
It's been a month. Time for a new casino, with some beautiful chips!

Paulson made A LOT of all-time best THC chips for Caribbean casinos. There were two casinos in the Caribbean under the name "Alhambra". One was in Aruba, one was in St Maarten. You've got two of the all time best $100 chips here, and the fives and twenty-fives are great chips too. In the interest of disclosure, I own some of these (just singles mind you) and am looking for more, especially these fine fine hundos.

View attachment 991793

Images courtesy of chipguide. Nice chips!
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@moechar
 
I thought it was time to add another casino to this thread. In the interest of NOT repeating myself, I went and summarized all casinos that have been covered so far. Um, it's a lot!


Alhambra (caribbean)
Ameristar (IN)
Aria
Artichoke Joe's
Biloxi Belle
Caesars Palace (hot stamp THC tourney)
Capitol City (fantasy)
Casino Club
Casino Queen
Crystal (Aruba)
Dunes (golf course)
Diamond & Emerald Lady (IA)
Dolphin (cruise)
El Condor
El Cortez
El Rancho
Eldorado scrown hot stamp (CA)
Emerald Casino (Curacao)
Four Queens
Golden Nugget LV (tourney)
Grand Casino Gulfport
Horseshoe Reno
Hotel Colon (Ecuador)
J & K Saloon (CA)
Jessie Beck
King International (Aruba)
Lac Courte Oreilles
Lake Elsinore
Large Crown inlaid (Rex Club, Equipoise, Mint)
Mapes
MGM Grand (Foxwoods)
MGM Reno
Miss Marquette (IA)
Mr. Gs
Oceanside Card Club
Palm Beach (Sri Lanka)
Paradise / 20th Century / Treasury / Hotel San Remo
Playboy Club London (scrown)
Pointe After
Pride of Mississippi (cruise)
Rainbow (Gardena)
Resorts International THC (NJ)
Resorts World
Saddle West
San Manuel
Seven Mile (CA)
Shy Clown
Soaring Eagle
Treasure Island (St Maarten)
Viejas Valley (CA)
Waterfront Tavern (WA)

Now I never have to make that list again. Off to find a nice casino rack to post up.
 
The South Dakota legislature legalized gaming in Deadwood ONLY in 1989. Deadwood is in the middle of nowhere, and at the time had a population of about 2000. (The population is even smaller now) And as you can imagine, about a million tiny "casinos" opened almost overnight. Best of all, a lot of them were smart enough to get PAULSON chips on the THC mold. And as it goes with any situation like this, a lot of these casinos did not last very long. When you combine low population, small businesses, middle of nowhere, and frequent closures, you can imagine that some of the chips of that era are VERY scarce. I've chosen some of my favorites. IMO there are only 33 casinos that have chips worth pursuing. Here are three.

1684879534883.png


Pics courtesy of whoever took them and uploaded them to chipguide.

The Nugget was open 1990-1991. Its chips are difficult to find, but some of the best Deadwood has to offer. The single five is worth about $100, and the twenty-five will set you back at least $500.

Gold Street had a much better run from 1989 to 1997. According to chipguide they also had some gawd-awful plastic chips at one time. Face value is much closer to the value on these, except the $1. I don't know much about white $1 chip pricing, because I do not collect them.

Cousin Jacks was only open 1989-1991, but its chips are similarly priced as Gold Street.

Great chips!
 
Indio Bingo Palace, California. Open for a few years in the early 1990s, at a time when Paulson was making its very best chips ever. (Even the leaded RHC chips from that era are spectacular chips.) If you are old and want to feel older, the early 1990s were THIRTY years ago. These chips are great. THC, textured inlays, with shaped inlays starting at the $5 chip and continuing through the $100. There is a green $2, so the $20 could not also be the typical green color for California card rooms. The $1, $5, and $100 are the typical blue, yellow, and white. The $20 looks peach to me, although I'm sure somebody knows the exact Paulson color and would not have to guess.

(chips pictured are courtesy of the folks who scanned or photographed them, and who then presumably uploaded their own creations to chipguide, which is where I copied the images from)

1686678504585.png
 
FDLmold said:
Yup. I think I have always hated the Grand Casino Gulfport $25 for the same reason. It's a bad scan in chipguide, and with a proper photo or scan, or even in person, it would be much nicer.
View attachment 1150390
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That’s funny because I used to have some and I thought they were gorgeous, and I could never understand why some people sad they were lame.
 
upNdown said:
That’s funny because I used to have some and I thought they were gorgeous, and I could never understand why some people sad they were lame.
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In June of 2018, as I was just getting this thread off the ground, in this post here about GC Gulfport

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/most-beautiful-casino-racks.30853/post-568110

I said it was the lamest of the GC Gulfport lineup lol.

Edit - looking back more on that post, all of those images are chipguide scans, and they just scream "low res" and "suck" out of the monitor at you.
 
Oh, and if anybody does have an extra Grand Casino Gulfport $25, with no flea bites, that rolls on edge, I need one for my Rat Rod set.
 

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