Regarding buying boxes of Golden Gate chips, that was me. Me and my good friend Lynn Brooks were doing one of Bill Akeman's chip shows at Arizona Charlie's, about 25 years ago. The first night after the show we went to the Golden Gate for dinner " 99 cent shrimp cocktails ". I was playing craps and Lynn was playing Black jack. After awhile Lynn came over to me and said he was ahead a few hundred,and wanted to leave. I looked at my rack and said lets go. I then realized I was having a really good run. Took our chips to the cage, I had about 3K+. I asked the cashier about older casino chips. She said they have a box or 2 of older $25 chips. She brought out a box and opened it. They were $25 Paulson House mold with the metal center, I bought both boxes for 5K and gave her a $50 tip. The chips were all in new unused condition. We then proceeded to the bar to celebrate. Within a few minutes the casino manager came over to talk to us. We talked about chips, he told me we got the last of the old $25's, but he had a box of $100 House mold, with the Bridge inlay. I asked about buying 20 or 30 of them. But his answer was we had to buy the whole box or nothing. Well, I didn't have another 10K, so I passed.
The next day I brought both boxes to the show. After Doug Saito saw them I sold him a complete box. And split the rest of them with Lynn, and sold quite a few of them at the show for $35. I'm glad I never got the box of $100's. Most were sold off over the years for about $125 ea. Not a good 10K investment. Those were the days when this hobby was moving and shaking.