Perhaps it was the excitement of the ‘find’. Perhaps there was a certain degree of greed. But then again, it could have been simple ignorance…..just not knowing what to do.

Confused? So was I. But I believe I have reasoned it out, and I now know what I should have done in the first place, which is what I am doing now. Although this is not sole searching along the lines of Hamlet, it is none the less important to me, and what I am. So, without further ado, here are the full and complete details of my $5, HHR, green w/3 red inserts, HS-Gold "New Town Tavern" find, from several weeks ago in a Bullhead City antique store.

While looking through a maze of displays at the antique shop, I came across a fanned out stack of the green New Town Tavern chips. Without counting them I simply asked the proprietor "how much?" He said, "Face value. Five dollars a piece". I told him I would take all of them. When the total came to 11 chips, he even rounded it off to an even $50!

It was then that I began to struggle with what to do? Although 11 is more than what I needed, the potential for profit sure looked good. And so did the possibility of using them as traders for other obsolete Las Vegas (or other obsolete Nevada chips). So next came questions of value. Both TCR and C/W guides are not too far apart on this, but an examination of the chips showed that only two were in very nice (excellent) condition, while the others had varied degrees of use (wear) and damage (some had slight warpage, while others have minor chips and dings). When using the C/W’s ‘rarity" scale an R-8 is assigned, meaning 8 – 15 specimens are known to exist to the authors. When these 11 are then added, the ‘rarity’ changes to an R-7, meaning that 15 – 30 specimins are now known to the authors (at least as of this writing) unless others have also been discovered.

Anyway, I was reluctant to disclose that I found 11 of these chips and that was not a correct action, so I am correcting that omission by posting this message. As far as the chips are concerned, this is what I have done thus far….

The best one goes to my collection. One has been gifted to a friend. And a third one (the second best one) has been consigned to the Club’s annual auction to be held in June during the Convention. This then makes the chip equally available to all Club members. With respect to the remaining 8 chips…… I guess I will entertain offers (trades) on a first come, first served basis, to which two individuals have already expressed an interest.

Thank you for your attention in this matter, and I think I see the light!

Best Regards and Happy New Year!

Jim Follis