Some casino chips now have markings that are only visible under a black light, or they have microchips, serial numbers, and/or a specific weight. Many more precautions have been made with modern casino chips to prevent forgeries and counterfeiting. Ceramic chips can also be mass-produced relatively easily, and they are one of the most frequent varieties of chips used in casinos or tournaments today. This clay mixture is significantly more durable than what was used to make prior clay chips, and chips of this composition are still made today.Ī single clay Pick Hobson’s chip sold for $12 in 2019.Ĭasino chips today are made of either the clay mixture, plastic, or ceramic. After that, the chips were made out of a composite of clay and other materials, including sand, chalk, and a similar substance to what is found in cat litter. These original chips were made entirely out of clay, and were not very durable but, despite their lack of durability, these clay chips were used until the 1950s. To make these, companies used a compression mold technique. These became known as the first casino chips. In the 1880s, companies began to produce uniformly sized clay tokens. All of these tokens were very easy to forge, so casino chips were made largely to provide more consistency to the gambling currency and to make them harder to counterfeit.

Eventually, casinos began to use tokens that were made from wood, paper, or sometimes ivory. Before then, gamblers used traditional currency such as coins, silver, gold, paper money in casinos, or any other small valuable object. The first casino can be traced back to Venice in 1638, but it wasn’t until the late 19th century that casino chips made their first appearance. While these chips can be very inexpensive to purchase in casinos, many collectors will put great value on old chips or chips from former or illegal casinos. Granted it was 10 years ago, but this one casino chip sold for over $26,000 in 2010 at Heritage Auctions.Ĭasino chips, also known as checks, cheques, and gaming chips, are small discs that are used as in casino currency for gambling and betting.

1920's casino chips