This was a good...no...great day!
Picked Emma up a little after 8am , and made our way up to the Newport Aquarium. It's been quite some time since we've been there and it was certainly worth the trip. We cruised around Newport on the Levee, which included a few neat little stores. One in particular was called The Dragon's Hoard. What a cool shop! It had a lot of Renaissance garb and gear for festivals, along with a "hoard" of weapons. Good thing Conor didn't come with us...there could have been mayhem afoot!
Anyway, we talked with the owner (I suppose), and he indicated that they had recently opened and were anticipating even more inventory, including some western gear. A lot of the things he gets are made from the same folks who do reproductions for movies...neat.
Oh yeah...there are dragons there too. He said more are on the way as well...that by itself is worth another trip up there. We wished him good luck and went on our way.
After visiting the fish, we did another lap around the levee and headed home. We stopped in Florence at an antique mall. In 10 minutes, I saw more chips there than all of my other mall, flea market, yard sale, estate sale excursions combined! Unfortunately, the booth owners were quite proud of their chips so we didn't bring any home with us...but still a very exciting find.
We hit the Florence Mall (did they change things around in the past 5-6 years?) and did more shopping. What is it about us and malls? Oh yeah...Emma is a teenage girl...silly me! After a visit to the food court, we came home.
My feet are killing me, and I don't care!
Thanks Emma! I had a blast, and I hope you did too!
Few days good
Most days bad
Almost all days sad
The more I sleep, the more tired I get. An interesting equation.
The ringing never, ever stops.
How one can someone be so oblivious to how much hurt is caused?
Time to lay down.
As my chipping friends descend upon Las Vegas once again for the Annual Collector's Convention, I wish them all safe travels, lots of new chips, and bring home some of Vegas' money!
Al Moe
Casino chip collectors will mob Las Vegas in June for a show featuring chips and other items. A single casino chip sold on eBay for $28,988.88
The 2010 edition of the CCGTCC chip collector’s convention hits Las Vegas, Nevada, on Wednesday, June 23, 2010 and runs through Saturday June 26. The convention is the highly anticipated annual get-together for thousands of casino and gaming memorabilia collectors. Doors open to the public on Thursday, June 24, at 10:00AM in the Grand Ballroom at the South Point Hotel/Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
The Casino Chip and Gaming Token Collectors Club (CCGTCC) has been around nearly 25-years, after starting with less than 20 members in 1987. Archie Black, a collector of casino chips from Atlantic City, New Jersey, started the club after contributing articles on New Jersey chips to Casino and Gaming Chips Magazine, based in Reno, Nevada.
Black and his small band of collectors held their first annual meeting at the American Numismatic Association Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1988. The club’s enthusiasm and growing membership led to it becoming a sub-section of the ANA, and the annual meeting became a full-blown convention in May of 1993, held at the Aladdin Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. This year’s event will be held at the South Point Casino, and traffic entering the Grand Ballroom is expected to top 10,000 persons.
Quarterly Chip Club Magazine
The CCGTCC offers an 80-page color magazine with its annual membership. The quarterly magazine features stories about the history of casinos, but because members collect all types of memorabilia from around the world, stories contain wonderful photos of chips, dice, ashtrays and matchbooks, tokens, casinos themselves and even hotel key- cards, postcards and swizzle sticks.
Early collectors of casino and poker chips like Phil Jensen, Bruce Landau, and Dale Seymour scoured flea markets, antique stores, and casinos themselves to find rare chips in the 1970’s. Seymour went on to publish the first catalogue and price guide: “Antique Gambling Chips.”
Chip Price Guides
Newer price guides like the “Chip Rack” and “The Official U.S. Casino Chip Price Guide” are updated regularly to reflect fluctuations in prices, new issues, and rare finds.
$1 Chip Sets Record Price
Retiree Sandy Marbs from Florissant, Missouri listed a chip on eBay that she found nestled at the bottom of her jewelry box, a momento from a trip to Las Vegas in 1960. She started the bidding at $2.25 – but by the end of the auction, the rare $1 issue from the Showboat Vegas fetched a record $28,988.88
This year’s convention at the South Point Casino will include more than 50-dealer tables full of all types of casino collectibles for sale and trade to the general public. Educational seminars are a part of the convention this year with advice for organizing your collection, collecting gaming, collecting Caribbean casino chips, and a lecture on the book, “The Roots of Reno.”
Club members also enjoy special events like a blackjack and poker tournament, trade sessions, plus club rates in the hotel. Non-members will enjoy a veritable plethora of casino chips, dice, tokens, silver strikes, and displays of different casino advertising collectibles like matches and ashtrays. Bring your old chips to sell or have priced. Who knows what they might be worth? The dealers at the convention do!
But not for me...for Emma!
I attended Emma's 8th grade award ceremony this morning. My little girl is the last of the kids to get into high school...where has the time gone?
She looked so grown-up, walking across the floor to receive her certificate. I was able to snap a pic or two. My mind then wandered back to when she was born...and then as she grew up. The images flashed by by so quickly, just as the time has flown by.
I really miss being with her as she begins a new journey at a new school. Fortunately, we get together for shopping and lounging every 2 weeks or so. Even just crashing and watching a movie with her is a treat.
Congratulations Emma, I'm very proud of you!