Hitting a jackpot on Vegas collectibles

[Alan Mendelson]

About six or seven years ago I did a news story on the McDonalds museum here in Southern California. Yes, a museum that featured all sorts of memorabilia of the Golden Arches including just about every toy that came in a kids meal, cups, napkins, wrappers, boxes, even display cases and menu boards and chairs and seats -- it was all there.

But when I asked the Museum curator what the most expensive item there was he pointed to an original strip of McDonalds "wet naps" or what we call pre-moistened towelettes.

They were so valuable because no one bothered to save them. People saved cups and toys and boxes and signs but no one saved the towelettes. If I recall, and this as I said six or seven years ago, that strip of towelettes was valued at more than a thousand dollars.

So when the casinos went to ticket-in ticket-out machines I immediately thought that there would someday be coin buckets and towelettes that would be valuable. But everybody saves the coin buckets. Did you save some of the towelettes with the casino names on them? I didn't. And then I started to wonder about the slot gloves with the casino names on them. Anybody bother to save them?

Could slot gloves emblazoned with casino names and logos be the future collectibles jackpot?

How about the old metal coins? Silver strikes which used to drop out of 25-cent slot machines already are collectible because of their silver content. Some casinos even change the design on their room key cards and if you get a room key card with a "rare print" that might even be collectible in the future.

I think a very collectible Vegas item might be a marker signed by Pete Rose, or one signed by Bill Bennett. Did Frank Sinatra or Sammy Davis ever have to sign a marker?

I have plenty of markers that I signed and were returned by Caesars after I paid them off. I'd gladly sell one to anyone who thinks it's collectible.

[BobOrme]

About six or seven years ago I did a news story on the McDonalds museum here in Southern California. Yes, a museum that featured all sorts of memorabilia of the Golden Arches including just about every toy that came in a kids meal, cups, napkins, wrappers, boxes, even display cases and menu boards and chairs and seats -- it was all there.

But when I asked the Museum curator what the most expensive item there was he pointed to an original strip of McDonalds "wet naps" or what we call pre-moistened towelettes.

They were so valuable because no one bothered to save them. People saved cups and toys and boxes and signs but no one saved the towelettes. If I recall, and this as I said six or seven years ago, that strip of towelettes was valued at more than a thousand dollars.

So when the casinos went to ticket-in ticket-out machines I immediately thought that there would someday be coin buckets and towelettes that would be valuable. But everybody saves the coin buckets. Did you save some of the towelettes with the casino names on them? I didn't. And then I started to wonder about the slot gloves with the casino names on them. Anybody bother to save them?

Could slot gloves emblazoned with casino names and logos be the future collectibles jackpot?

How about the old metal coins? Silver strikes which used to drop out of 25-cent slot machines already are collectible because of their silver content. Some casinos even change the design on their room key cards and if you get a room key card with a "rare print" that might even be collectible in the future.

I think a very collectible Vegas item might be a marker signed by Pete Rose, or one signed by Bill Bennett. Did Frank Sinatra or Sammy Davis ever have to sign a marker?

I have plenty of markers that I signed and were returned by Caesars after I paid them off. I'd gladly sell one to anyone who thinks it's collectible.

I've seen some of the towelette wrappers that had casino logos on them, and have seen those in some collections, but they don't have much collectible market value.

Vintage casino freebies like matches and matchbook covers have collectible value. Bar and restaurant napkins have collectible value. Swizzle sticks have collectible value. Keno tickets have collectible value. Room keys and players cards have collectible value. Those are some of the things you could/can get for free at many casinos. Some of those things are worth less than a dollar to collectors. Some are worth more than a dollar. It can be much more, depending on rarity and who wants it.

Stuff that you have to pay for in a casino has collectible value, with casino chips being the front runner by far. I know of one $1 Las Vegas casino chip that sold on eBay for $28,900, and there a number of chips that have a face value of $100 or less that have sold in the 5-figure range.

Casino collectors tend to specialize because there is just too much stuff out there to collect it all. I collect chips, tokens, and matches. I also like casino glass, so I have ashtrays, shot glasses, and obsolete slot machine glass panels. I have decks of casino cards. I have sets of dice, both drilled (canceled) and undrilled. I have a blackjack table felt that I got just for asking when a casino was changing the felt on a few of their tables. I have some older Las Vegas casino postcards, a collectible area I'm going to be focusing on for the next few years. I enjoy hard copy photographic history, and old Vegas postcards are still relatively cheap to obtain.

Some of my casino collectible friends are more hardcore than I am. When the Casino Chip and Gaming Token Collectors Club moved its annual convention to the South Point a few years ago, I knew the South Point had a logo'd item in the casino that is not common in most casinos. In their men's bathrooms, they have logo'd urinal strainers. I put the over-under at 5 of those walking out of the casino during convention weekend. I can't say for sure exactly how many walked, but it was more than 5. I offered one of the bathroom porters $10 for a new strainer. She turned me down, saying she thought she might get fired for selling one to me. I wasn't going to lift one out of a urinal, so I don't have one of those in my casino collection.