has thus far been left to those who publish guides/catalogues. There is no universal numbering system for chips. To my knowledge, the following are in-use:

TCR numbers (The Chip Rack) for all Nevada chip and check issues (no slot machine tokens).
Black's numbers for all Atlantic City stuff (chips, checks, tokens, play money and strikes)
CG numbers (ChipGuide) for all chips listed at the ChipGuide as posted by Greg Susong (Riverboat and Indian).
Wet chips have Smith/Long numbers.
Nevada also has Herz/Herz numbers.

Eastman did a California guide, but no numbers. Armin P. does a California guide, but I don't know if he uses numbers.

Those are what come to mind. I know that there are others, but someone else will have to weigh-in with a reply.

Welcome to collecting!

Jim Follis