I think last time I asserted my philosophy toward the issue the thread developed into a fairly gross discussion of what is in the "HISTORY" that some are afraid to clean off the chips. I will not go back and restate them though. Frankly, I probably wouldn't recall all of the better and most disgusting substances that were mentioned.

However, my practice when I take a chip off the tables is to take it back to my hotel room, or home as the case may be, and squirt a small dab of liquid detergent in my hand, or lather up with a bar of soap, and rub the chip flat in my hand for a little bit. Basically washing my hands while holding the chip or token. I want to wash the loose "DIRT" off along with any other substance that is fairly recent, and undesirable. I do not clean to the point where I remove the darkening or other more established age to the chips. Also, by rubbing FLAT IN MY HANDS, I often end up cleaning the surface but not effecting the buildup in the designs, stampings engraving or embosing of the chip. That creates a contrast where it is sometimes easier to see fine details within the chips. Asside from the use of soap, the technique that I use, I feel, wears no more than the normal rubbing and wear that the chip would go through being fidgeted within the hands of a gambler at the tables. I try not to take any extrordinary means to clean a chip. If it doesn't come off with simple soap and water, Maybe a disinfecting soap for those who have expressed those concerns, than it stays there.

Same is true for polishing tokens. I try not to polish tokens, as a general rule, but sometimes they can be quite bad. I will take a tiny dab of MAAS (Simichrome and other brands the same) and I rub lightly with my fingers. Then wipe on a cloth that is flat on a table top. That polishes the high points of the design leaving the patina or antiquing in the depressions or engravings making the design features stand out a little. Of course over time the polished areas will darken again and loose that characteristic. After polishing the tokens I then wash in warm soapy (dish soap) water and pat dry. When dry I then put in square Whitman holders or AirTites.

Personally, after cleaning plenty of tokens myself, and seeing lots of photos of chips cleaned by others, I feel it is best to go with the dirt to a big extent. Silver (color not metal) Tokens will polish up fairly nicely but I notice that some of the gold, (brass maybe) don't. I have some that, unless you are going to do them on a high speed wheel, WHICH I WOULD NEVER DO TO A TOKEN, they don't polish completely and sometimes take on a greenish tinge and do not look natural. I will often clean them with the polish when I first get them but then I let them age and NEVER CLEAN THEM AGAIN. I learned this with my Treasure Island $1 slot token. It has taken a few years to take on a more natural appearance again. Reluctantly, when getting another from my girlfriend with a box of tokens, for my birthday, I polished that because it seemed to be corroading a little. I used some of the polish and had to scrub a little to polish the blemishes off. Now the token looks fairly wierd but has a good even surface. Leaving it as is now, it will hopefully re-age more evenly. In general, unless there is some reason to want to polish a token, simple soap and water can be all you need there also. As for chips, being a more pourous substance, in most cases, and textured, in others, colorations and dirt will get severely worked into the surface. In most instances, that I have seen, they never can be cleaned thouroughly or effectively enough to look NEW. Therefore rather than having a chip, as yours looks, that is a white chip with gray specks from the dirt that couldn't be cleaned off and still look dirty, I would just leave it in the original state after a light cleaning with a disinfecting hand soap.

I like the old worn and aged appearance on some of my chips. I think they have "CHARACTER"