I am working on a page-a-day calendar project that I hope to get published before I'm too old to understand what a calendar is used for. I will be including a scan of a chip or group of chips on each page, using all types and vintages of chips. Since my own collection is limited, I'd like to request contributions of scanned images from anybody who would like to participate. I especially need older chips, high dollar chips, crest & seals and illegals. If you would like to help with the project, I invite you to submit scans of your favorite chips using the following guidelines:

1. Please scan a setting of at least 400 dpi and make the images you send me large enough that they can be cropped to a standard 650 by 650 pixels. If your chip isn't straight, I may need to straighten and crop the image, so provide extra surface surrounding the chip if possible.

2. Feel free to use any background color you like, if your chips look better with a colored background. Black backgrounds are acceptable too. Since we want this calendar to be "pretty", use chips that are in mint to near-mint condition if the chip you are scanning is readily available. Of course, the rarer the chip the more difficult it is to find in pristine condition, so wear and dirt are to be expected.

3. If you are scanning a group of chips, please keep in mind that the image will be cropped into a square or almost-square rectangular shape.

4. If your chips are from a casino that isn't listed in The Chip Rack or The Gaming Table, please try to provide information about when the casino opened, and closed if applicable.

5. By contributing scans to the project, you are giving me permission to use them in this calendar. I can't compensate you, but you will be given a printed acknowledgment on the page where the scan appears. Please don't include your name, website or any other information in the scan itself.

6. E-mail your scans to mcotton@gte.net Please attach one scan per e-mail and include your name and any other information you'd like to provide in the body of the e-mail. If you have a large number of scans you'd like to submit, you can send them on a diskette or CD-ROM to:

Mark Cotton
1301 Canterbury
Hobbs, NM 88242

Whether I use your scan or not will depend on the amount of space available, the quality of your scan, the number of scans received and how many other chips from the casino your chips are from have already been included.

This project will likely take months to complete, so don't spend all Thanksgiving afternoon rushing to send your scans. I'll post this message again here periodically as the project takes shape.

E-mail me if you have questions.