I have posted this over on the Club's BBS, but wanted to make it available to the bigger audience here.

This is that post:

"I took the liberty to pose a few questions to Bourgogne et Grasset (BG) and within 1/2 a day I got the following answers.

My thanks to Florence PETITJEAN of BG for these answers and to the several people who contacted me via email for information and/or leads.

Here then is the response I received from BG. I see no reason to post my inquiry to them as their responses are self-explanatory.

Dear Sir,

We thank you very much for your message regarding the Sahara Casino plaques. We are glad to see that our French plaques are making collectors happy !

We are pleased to confirm the following :

1/ Bourgogne et Grasset manufactured and delivered these plaques to Sahara Casino in July 1974 (to Mr Tod Early), as follows :

- 2000 x plaques value $20, size 82x57 mm, white lace material, light blue colour, numbered from 0001 to 2000
- 500 x plaques value $50, size 95x66 mm, white lace material, green colour, numbered from 0001 to 0500
- 1000 x plaques value $100, size 108x75 mm, white lace material, blue colour, numbered from 0001 to 1000
- 500 x plaques value $500, size 119x82 mm, white lace material, red colour, numbered from 0001 to 0500
- 200 x plaques value $1000, size 129x90 mm, gold lamé, numbered from 0001 to 0200
All plaques with a central lunette with casino logo printed inside.

2/ All these plaques were produced at the same period.

3/ The plaques value $1.000 are slightly different from the others, and more sophisticated as it is the higher denomination. The material is called "gold lamé", while the other plaques are made of white lace. This is a more sophisticated material which is much more difficult to counterfeit. The denomination is printed in red, as a gold colour would not be easily readable on the gold colour of the plaque.

We hope the above information will answer your questions and remain at your entire disposal for any further information you may require.

With our best regards,

Florence PETITJEAN
BOURGOGNE ET GRASSET
TEL : + (33) 3 80 26 26 26 / FAX : + (33) 3 80 26 26 00
florence.petitjean@bgchips.com "