Casino Chip of the Day

Thanks for the images of the tokens, Lucyjr. I had never seen a Bellagio coin, and my Caesars Palace token does not have a date on it. I think it may be a little newer than yours, based on when I got it in the middle of this past decade.

State: Nevada
City: Minden
Casino: Carson Valley Inn

Quote: TIMSPEED

Ha! I just remembered what casino it is....

So, is this the chip/casino you were thinking of yesterday?

At least once and probably twice in this forum, I have told the tale of how I wound up at the casino at Carson Valley Inn. I'll repeat myself anyway. For my trip last fall (first time ever) to the Reno/Sparks/Carson City/Lake Tahoe area, I had pre-planned the list of casinos that I wanted to visit. I thought I was covering most of the places that have table games, but it seems I missed a few in Sparks and outlying areas of Reno.

I probably stopped pre-searching for more casinos for that trip when I realized that the number I had selected was high enough to annoy my wife, who would be tagging along with me, and was also a number that would bring my total collection to a number that would form a nice, uniform array for display under the glass on my desktop. (Finding a good geometric display array is a side problem to collecting the chips.)

As Bobby Burns said, "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft agley." When I got to the Carson Station casino in Carson City, I found that they were under new management and had closed their table games, probably due to a business downturn in the poor economy. That left me one chip short of my planned quantity of souvenir booty.

The following day, our last full day in the area, my wife I drove down to the town of Minden, down US395 south a few miles farther than we had previously traveled. We visited the Carson Valley Inn, the only establishment in town with a casino. I found it a pleasant little spot, even though I lost $60 playing craps.

The town itself, like many of the non-mining towns in Nevada I suppose, was created in response to the development of railroads through the state. According to the town's web site:

Quote:

Minden is a unique town among the towns in Nevada, and probably even among towns in the United States, for it was mapped and defined on the ground before a building was erected. As a result, it's neatly laid out streets served as the guide for growth during the first fifty or so years.

The town was named after Minden, Germany, near the birthplace of H.F. Dangberg. There is no question that the Dangbergs made the town. The Dangberg Company presented a plan of the town of Minden to the Douglas County Commissioners in July of 1906.

That explains the naming of the city, while the inn/casino got its name from the town being located in "the heart of Carson Valley."

Today's Casino Chip of the Day has substantial similarity to yesterday's. It is single color (no edge spots), top hat and cane, with a gold-color hot-stamped denomination and name. Repeating my comments from yesterday, of all the chips that come from Paulson/Gaming Partners International, this is essentially a bottom-of-the-barrel example.

Other than the casino that issued the chip and the blue rather than orange base color, the main difference between today's chip and yesterday's is that they include two different top hat and cane designs that we have discussed before. Thanks to Ayecarumba's recent input, we now can recognize that the Carson Nugget chip yesterday had the Reversed Hat and Cane design while today's Carson Valley Inn chip has the Short Cane Version.

I suppose that this point in the thread would be a suitable place for others to post images of chips from the Carson Station Casino, since I mentioned it in this post and specifically said I do not have one in my collection. Did any of you play there and keep a chip before they shut down their table games? This is the casino that rdw4potus was indicating yesterday as one he needs to complete his Nevada collection, whenever they re-open their pit.

Has anyone else ever played at the Carson Valley Inn, and do you perhaps have a nicer chip from there than the one I am showing? I know that rdw4potus found his yesterday, so I'm hoping he will post it very soon.

As you all know, I was in Revel on opening day. Here's some chips.

Admin note: removed image www.djteddybear.com/images/revel_chips_small.jpg
Admin note: removed image www.djteddybear.com/images/revel_chips.jpg

Yep, top had and cane chips. After all the hype, you'd think they'd have their name imressed in the edge as so many other high-end casinos do.

Funny thing is, the canes are so thin, they are hard to see. And this is on brand new chips! Imagine after there's a little wear! They are gonna be "Top hat" chips....


I present them here to use them as an example as I ask our resident chip expert a couple questions. And I regret not taking a better close up of the $25 and $100 before cashing them in. (I do have souvenir $1 and $5, but they are burried in the luggage...)


You'll note that there is a white spot on the $25 and $100, as well as a triangle on the $25, and other mark on the $100. In truth, there is something within the white spots. And significance to these marks?

Also, is there any significance to the size or shape of the edge markings? You'll note that the marks on the $100 are larger than the $25, which are larger than the $5. In fact, the white marks are larger than the blue marks on the $5. And the marks are triangles on the $1. It's all so mysterious and interesting.

Last, I also have a $1 chip that has only one of the marks. Obviously a production error. Any value in such a thing?

---

You'll note that I took these photos on an unoccupied poker table. I had to shoot at an angle to avoid glare. While arranging the shot, a floor person came over and asked what I was doing. The tone of his voice made it clear that he knew it's illegal, that I should also know it, and that he wasn't going to object. I said, "Taking photos while inside a casino. No good?" We both laughed. Then I told him that I was doing it for this thread, and he said OK.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

I present them here to use them as an example as I ask our resident chip expert a couple questions.

Let me know when you locate him; I have a bunch of questions myself.

I took a look at images of the new Revel chips on another web site. There are two small icons on the $25, $100, and $500 chips. All three of those denominations have toward the left what looks a bit like an eyeball, really the kind of eyeball on a cheap doll where you can shake a bead around inside a transparent shell. I don't know what that is supposed to be. The $25 chip has an isosceles trangle; the $100 chip has something that looks like an atom from a nuclear energy emblem (mostly electron orbits), and the $500 chip has a star. All denominations ($1 thru $500) have three dots centered below the value and (for the $25 thru $500) centered between the small icons.

As for the edge inserts, I have only seen rough descriptions of the (proprietary?) processes for adding those. Apparently a cylindrical block of the "clay" has grooves cut down the side with colored filler added before the block is sliced into chip thicknesses and pressed in the mold. The shape of those grooves affects the appearance of the chips from both the faces and the edges when they are in a stack, so they help in revealing a bogus chip or a mixed stack ("dirty" chips). I don't know any details.

We'll surely talk more about the Revel chips when this thread gets to the New Jersey section.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Last, I also have a $1 chip that has only one of the marks. Obviously a production error. Any value in such a thing?

I have seen one site with a photo of a chip missing one of the edge inserts, with the comment "Error Chip". While regular stamps and coins that have printing/minting errors sometimes have additional value, I have no idea about casino chips with errors. I have never sold a chip or bought one anywhere except in a casino, so I don't really know the market factors.

Yep, so I too have been to the Carson Valley Inn. It left such a lasting memory that I forgot about it. My chip is a collector's edition, which I usually try to avoid. I'd placed the chip in a pile of similar chips that I was hoping to replace, and I just re-found it last night while we were discussing what the next casino might be.

I was also shut out at the Carson Station. Their pit was "permanently" before I got there late last summer. I question that permanency, since the tables were still in place.

Quote: Doc

State: Nevada
City: Minden
Casino: Carson Valley Inn
So, is this the chip/casino you were thinking of yesterday?

YEP! I said "Changed decor" because before the new owners took it over, it was VERY rustic feeling...
and I think I actually DO have a chip from Carson Station (I remember playing Let-It-Ride there, as no one else in town had the game!) I'll have to dig through my drawers of junk to see if I still have it.
Aside, have you drove FARTHER out Doc, to Topaz Lodge? (They have a pit)

Like rdw4potus, I too have been to Carson Valley Inn and forgot about it completely. (I thought CasaBlanca would be the next one to come up). I played blackjack and video poker there and lost badly, I remember. The casino is nice, with a nice hotel and if I recall there were a lot of well-to-do golf types there. The town/area seemed very prosperous.

Quote: TIMSPEED

Aside, have you drove FARTHER out Doc, to Topaz Lodge? (They have a pit)

From my perspective at the time, driving the extra 22 miles to Gardnerville for one more chip would have been like driving the 300+ miles down to the Stagecoach Hotel and Casino in Beatty. (I didn't do that either.)

Please do find and post a photo of your Carson Station chip. You may be the only one here that has one.

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Quote: Doc

From my perspective at the time, driving the extra 22 miles to Gardnerville for one more chip would have been like driving the 300+ miles down to the Stagecoach Hotel and Casino in Beatty. (I didn't do that either.)

Please do find and post a photo of your Carson Station chip. You may be the only one here that has one.

Beatty tip: take several days and drive a huge loop: Vegas to Bishop, CA (or Mammoth Lakes) to Vegas again. You'll drive up US 395, between King's Canyon (and Yosemite if you go to Mammoth Lakes) and Death Valley national parks, then (likely, there are options) through Death Valley past the Methuselah tree on CA168, then down US 95 through Beatty back to Vegas.