Unsure if I'm in the right place ... are these poker chips? (1 Viewer)

[athurber]

Please see photos attached

Inherited from my father, a locking wood parquet box containing thin Catalin chips of various colors, sizes and shapes, plus 5 round corner dice. The interior of box is divided into compartments designed specifically to hold the chips, dice and a deck of cards. It was purchased in 1945 in Lima, Peru where he was stationed as a US Army Air Corp flier during WWII.

XL (I 7/16" dia.) Hexagon red chip - 20 pieces
XL Round darker yellow chip - 28 pieces
L (1 5/16 dia.) Round yellow chip - 32 pieces
L Round dark blue chip - 31 pieces (missing 1?)
L Round orange chip - 32 pieces
L Round light blue chip - 32 pieces
S (1" dia.) Round orange chips - 34 pieces
S Round orange chips - 34 pieces
S Round red chips - 33 pieces (missing 1?)
S Round green chips - 33 pieces (missing 1?)
S Round blue chips - 32 pieces (missing 2?)

I know they were used to play poker, because I found a poker "cheat sheet"" describing card hand ranking inside the box. However, I can't find anything similar to this set anywhere online. Your forum seems to be for traditional poker chips sets, which this is obviously not. Any thoughts?

I'm beginning to suspect this was a custom "gaming box" created by a local Lima artisan. That would have appealed to my father - also that it is compact, reasonably lightweight and portable. Surprisingly, the chips stack and stay put fairly well - but so thin it makes them a bit challenging to count and pick up.

 

[BigGrizz]

I mean... not good ones. And not in any quantities that can be usefully played with.

 

[Gus]

Lovely case but unfortunately the “chips” appear to be cheap plastic. There’s a chance they’re older vintage/antique, but I’ve never seen any of the old stuff that looks like this with such bright colors. Regardless, the antique stuff isn’t of much interest in this forum which is focused mostly on contemporary clay chips (from about the 1940’s onward, but mostly in the last 40 years), with plenty of talk about budget chips. Again, the pieces shown in your photo appear to be simply plastic discs, which are perfectly suitable for playing games with friends but are likely worth about $0.

Great story behind the chips, lovely box, but alas, you don’t have treasure on your hands this time