Sands chips from the 1950s are among the most expensive because relatively few were made and survived to this day.Īt least 5,000 Golden Goose $5 chips were made in 1976. There is no rhyme or reason sometimes.”Ī chip worth $150 can easily go for $650, he said, at the convention.Īs in other collectible fields, the rarer an item, the higher the price. “People say, ‘I need that for my collection’ and they bid like crazy. It is not immediately clear how many of the chips that were stolen were $25,000 chips, though it could be as many as 60.“The prices can get outrageous at the auction,” said Sheldon Smith, a representative of the association, as he toured the show floor. Yesterday, the Silver Nugget Casino in north Las Vegas posted notice it planned to discontinue chips with the Mahoney's Silver Nugget logo. 'It's pretty unusual for someone we don't know to come strolling up with a handful of $25,000 chips.'ĭiscontinuing chips – though done in this case because of the robbery – is not uncommon for Las Vegas casinos, even at such high denominations, Salas said.Ĭommemorative chips to mark a noteworthy prizefight, for example, often have a finite circulation. 'Obviously, anyone walking with one of the old series is going to be subject to a certain amount of questioning as to how they obtained them – assuming it isn't someone we know,' Feldman said. He said he did not know how many chips existed and remained uncashed. MGM Resorts' Alan Feldman said the chips were switched out at the tables within an hour of the robbery, and the Bellagio immediately filed to discontinue the chips.įeldman said the move was designed to avoid inconveniencing players using the high-value chips. Police and casino officials have been keeping watch on anyone trying to cash in the chips, which ranged in denomination from $100 to $25,000.Ī police spokeswoman said yesterday that there had been no significant developments.

MGM Resorts first posted notice of the redemption last week in the classified section of the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper, a week after a robber wearing a motorcycle helmet held up a craps table at gunpoint and made off with a bag of chips of varying denominations on 14 ecember.

'The bottom line is that they're not money,' said David Salas, deputy enforcement chief for the Nevada gaming control board. After that, gambling regulators say each red chip with a gray inlay will be worth no more than the plastic it is cast from.

Green las vegas casino chip