SALES LIST -- RECENTLY ACQUIRED ILLEGALS: CHICAGO, MONTANA, ETC.
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The Frolics, Chicago, Illinois.  A great find here.   Only I have these chips, other than some collectors who bought a chip from me (I bought out all of the chips from a man in Wisconsin whose mother worked in the Frolics and rescued these chips).  There are only 14 left of the brown chips and 25 each of the red and orange chips.      Click here to read all about the chips --  the order cards, history, scan of actual newspaper artice of Aiuppa's arrest at the Frolics, etc.  The title to the auction says a lot about the chips: "illegal Frolics Club: Chicago Mafia gambling poker chip; rare new find, casino,1950s, Joseph "Joey Doves" Aiuppa."  Aiuppa eventually rose to the  top of the Chicago mob ("Outfit").  As I show in the auction description, he not only owned the club, but was arrested there (per Chicago Tribune newspaper story).  The chips sold here are T-mold, very nice condition, though canceled with neat drill hole.  The bown 5s have the same "Frolics 5" on both sides.  The orange Frolics 10 and red Frolics 30 have different small numbers on the back, which we believe are security numbers (each chip has a different number).

Frolics -- brown 5	$49.00
Frolics -- orange 10	$19.00
Frolics -- red 30	$19.00
Frolics -- set of all 3 chips	$77.00

Chicago Merchants Club set of 4 metal chips/tokens

$24.00

4 1896-1907 Chicago Merchants Club (CMC) poker chips/tokens. Same on both sides. The CMC was famous in shaping the layout of the city to make it both attractive and commercially successful.  The $1.00 chip is 1-1/2."  The others are smaller.  Tokens like these were commonly used 100 years ago throughout the country as poker chips and commercial (trade) tokens.  Click here to read more about them and the famous CMC in my recent auction .  I have only about 4 sets of these left.

Old Faithful set of 5 fractionals

$25.00

Only I have these Old Faithful, Livingston, Montana, chips, from the 1920's.  Read the story about them from my latest completed auction: click here .  The chips (1-1/2") are approaching 100 years old.  In many parts of the US, but particularly in Montana, "good-for" tokens like these were used for poker and other gambling games.  If you look at Ed Hertel's illegal gambling guide, you will see the large number of token chips used in illegal clubs and bars in Montana.  The small denominations exemplify the value of the dollar then, and the modest income of the residents.  Tokens were also used in case of police raids -- the owners could claim that the chips were commercial tokens for change and advertising premiums. ... ... ..... The five chips  say "Old Faithful, Livingston Mont." w/ the "club" symbol, one one side.  The reverse side says "GOOD FOR (so many cents) IN TRADE."  The five chips are: 5¢ Gray, 10¢ green, 25¢ brown, 25¢ red, and 50¢ light blue. Good/nice condition; the reds are a little soiled and might have an occasional small burn.

Old Faithful $1 yellow (SOLD; no more, sorry.)

$25.00

This is my last $1 yellow Old Faithful, Livingston, Mont., chip.  The reverse side is like all the others ("Old Faithful Livingston Mont." w/ the "club" symbol).  I am the only one with Old Faithful chips, and originally I had just ten $1 yellows.

Old Faithful $1 dark blue

$25.00

This is my last  $1 dark blue Old Faithful, Livingston MT, chips.  The reverse side is like all the others ("Old Faithful Livingston Mont." w/ the "club" symbol).  I am the only one with Old Faithful chips, and originally I had only five $1 blues.  (The chip is DARK blue.  I had to lighten the scan so the words could be better seen.)

The Mint, Livingston MT -- Gray	$9.00	An old-time resident of the area told me that The Mint opened in the 1930's as an illegal club.    The "AF" on the chips is probably the initials of the game operator  who ran the games. The Mint is in Livingston, MT at 102 N. Main St.; the poker games there were discontinued in 1998 or so,  per an author of The Gambling Table. I have about a half dozen of the chips.
The Mint, Livingston MT -- Blue	$14.00	Just got these (Dec 2007). Have only 5 of them (12/17/07).

Wheel Club

$5.00

Wheel Club, Billings MT.  Maybe quite rare. Both sides of the chip are shown above.  I have only a half dozen of the chips. Never saw before. Not in Hertel's illegal club chip guide. Not in The Gambling Table. But just now, an author of The Gambling Table ID'd the chip for me as follows: "The Wheel Club opened in Billings in 1927 and is closed.." The chip is a casino chip size 1-9/16." It has no rim mold design. It is a thick square-edge chip. Sharp gold hot-stamp.

Ship Fitters Union (SFU)

$6.00

This chocolate brown hub mold chip (some say the scan looks purple, but the chip is brown) has been ID'd by many authorities as  from the Ship Fitters Union, 16th & Mission Street, San Francisco, CA. Hub Mold. Shipped to A. Gaughlin, Private Club (Opened: 1933 Closed:Yes).

"Casino Royale," James Bond movie, 3 prop chips

$5.00/ set of 3

Cartamundi Playing Cards Co., Belgium, supplied the chips and playing cards for the 2006 movie and the chip auctioned here -- again, same chips in both cases. Take a look at my auction .  There you will see the story behind the chips, and screen shots from the  movie, starring Daniel Craig.  The screen shots show these chips, the only chips from the climactic poker tournament visible in the movie.

EC UFC chips, set of 5

$39.00

Engineers Club, Brooklyn NY.   I just acquired some of these 1920's USPC Co.-made die-cut inlaid chips made for the Engineers Club of Brooklyn NY. The sample-order book pages of the USPC Co. states for these chips "Re-Ordered 11/19/23." And hand-written in script on the page is also "Engineers Club, Brooklyn."  There is no earlier page found, so these chips are from 1923 or earlier.  (It is difficult to read the script [dark ink on a dark page] so some have mistakenly read this as "Eugene Club," a mistake easy to make, but on close inspection it is definitely "Engineers Club, Brooklyn NY.").  Note, in the picture above, to the left of the bottom of the blue chip [discolored by scan setting] is "Enginee...", and to the right is "...lub. To the left of the red chip is "Broo...," and to the right is "n... N..."  New Find.  I believe I am the only person who has these chips. See page 29 of Herz' USPC Co. Guide.

These two clay chips came from the same gent who furnished me with all the other Montana chips on this page.  He lives in Montana.  The chips are unidentified as of now (ID would be appreciated).  Call them UFC's.  Probably from gambling clubs in Montana.  You can have them for $2 per chip.