Dear Fellow CCandGTCC Members:

As a number of you already know I recently acquired 2 previously unknown $5 1st issue Sahara chips (pictures below). Campiglia has already put them in his hall of fame. :)

The chips were purchased on eBay. The seller got them from his dad, who obtained them about 5 years ago at a flea market in Ponca City, Oklahoma. They were the only 2 that the flea market vendor had and the dad had no idea that they were worth anything. He doesn't have any more chips, so please don't harass him.

Not much is known about the inlay and why it is so scarce. Barry Weintraub was kind enough to send me a picture of the plain mold version with this inlay. I did a little research and the graphic (from the inlay) was used in the original advertisement for the Sahara's grand opening. Picture of the announcement appears below.

I plan on selling at least one of the chips and will entertain offers for it. Below is a list of the chips that I would like to add to my collection. The offer could be any combination of cash and chips. I will use my estimate of market prices to balance different offers. The Official US Chip Guide has a $10.5K price tag on Barry's chip. I'm sure that the value of this chip will be a topic of conversation. Other than the Palace Club RLT, I am only interested in very good quality chips that are not drilled, cancelled, or notched. No hotstamp and no cog inlays.

Condition: Excellent - Light Use - Minor edge roughness/nicks - Stands on edge

Pictures (JPEG Compression Level 10)

Side A 300dpi: http://home.comcast.net/~rossmccammon/Sahara/2A.jpg
Side B 300dpi: http://home.comcast.net/~rossmccammon/Sahara/2B.jpg
Side A 600dpi: http://home.comcast.net/~rossmccammon/Sahara/2A_600dpi.jpg
Side B 600dpi: http://home.comcast.net/~rossmccammon/Sahara/2B_600dpi.jpg
Sahara Announcement: http://home.comcast.net/~rossmccammon/Sahara/sahara_announcement.gif

Respectfully,

Ross McCammon
R-5597

Aladdin $5 Nevada Mold N6018
Bird Cage $5 N4366
Fremont $5 (Faro) N7582
Golden Nugget $1 (House, Purple, 2-white inserts) N8462
Hacienda $1 (Beige, Horse/Rider) N1739 or N1740
Las Vegas Club N/D (Bandit inlay) N3997 or N3998
The Mint $5 (saw inlay - building) N6963 or N7714
Sahara 50cents (Purple HCE Inlay with camel) N2100
Sands $5 ("A Place in the Sun" sunburst inlay) N2363 preferred
Country Club, Lake Tahoe $100 N7863
Palace Club, Reno RLT (Indian - Drilled preferred)
South Tahoe Casino $25 N7836
Christmas Tree $1 (1st issue) N7349
Star Broiler $5 or $1 (Man BBQing) N4372 or N4369
Hotel Nevada, Ely $100 (Black Burro with guns) N3227
Crumley Hotels RLT (Prospector inlay - Not White)
Stockmen's Hotel $5 or $1 (C&J Steer inlay) N3772 or V5668
Cactus Pete's (Man/Cactus inlay - rarity is not a factor)
S.S. Tango (California Gambling Ship C&S)