Recently, I acquired the pair of $100's shown below - from the Mapes and from Money Tree, both in Reno, located just 1/10th of a mile, or a 3 minute walk from each other (per Google map), in downtown Reno.
Of course, Mapes was older, opened in 1947, then Money Tree came along in 1969. They joined up, with common ownership around 1978, even changing the sign at Money Tree to read Mapes Money Tree. Then, both properties closed in 1982.
There's a production of some chips showing the common ownership "Mapes-Money Tree" name right on the chips, but they are all "non-negotiable" issues. No rack chips with the joint name on them.
But the unmistakable clue that the 2 properties were linked, even if not known otherwise, is the 2 parallel sets of Mapes chips (small crowns) and Money Tree chips (also small crowns) that have the same base colors and same insert colors & placements. The only difference is the inlays. This is true for multiple denominations - $5, $25 and the $100's shown here. (There are additional issues that don't have equivalents.)
But looking at this parallel pair of $100's, the only way both would be approved by NGCB is if there was common ownership.
(If you want to see the other pairings, just look up both on MoGH/ChipGuide.)
|