While most collectors associate numismatics with coins and banknotes, a growing number of Canadians are also pursuing casino chips, gaming tokens and other casino memorabilia, a specialized collecting field that will take centre stage this week at the world’s largest gathering of casino collectibles enthusiasts.
The 33rd annual Casino Collectibles Association (CCA) Show opens June 18 at the South Point Hotel Casino in Las Vegas, bringing together dealers, collectors and historians from around the world for three days of buying, selling, trading and educational programming.
For Canadian collectors, the event offers a unique opportunity to explore a hobby that overlaps with numismatics through the collecting of casino chips, tokens and gaming-related exonumia. Many collectors of Canadian trade tokens and transportation tokens have also developed an interest in casino collectibles, particularly chips and tokens from historic gaming establishments that have long since closed their doors.
Organizers describe the event as the world’s largest show dedicated to casino memorabilia, featuring hundreds of tables of material ranging from gaming chips and tokens to playing cards, dice, photographs, signs and other artifacts documenting the history of the casino industry.
The show also includes four educational seminars focused on gaming history. Topics this year include the role of Las Vegas’s iconic neon signs in preserving casino heritage, the future of the casino industry, developments to the ChipGuide online database and the history of Las Vegas’s early red-light district.
Of particular interest to researchers and collectors is the ChipGuide, considered the world’s largest online catalogue of casino chips and collectibles. Operated by the CCA’s Museum of Gaming History, the database currently documents more than 324,000 collectible items from 32,000 casinos worldwide.
A major auction featuring 235 lots of gaming chips, tokens and related memorabilia will also be held in conjunction with the show. Both live and silent auction formats are planned, with online bidding available for collectors unable to attend in person.
Founded as the Casino Chip & Gaming Token Collectors Club, the Casino Collectibles Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving gaming history and promoting the collecting of casino memorabilia. In addition to its annual convention, the organization maintains historical exhibits and extensive archives documenting casinos and gaming artifacts from around the world.
The show runs June 18-20 at the South Point Hotel Casino in Las Vegas and is open to the public.
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