Chips Ahoy!

(Note: Click on all pix to make them bigger.)

I wrote this piece for Sunday's Chicago Tribune on the big chip collectors confab in Vegas, which was terrific fun to cover. I went in thinking, "These people are gonna be nuts" and I left totally getting it. In fact, I'm going to edit down a charming interview I did with a couple of these folks and put it out on "The Strip" podcast feed as an extra. Here are some pix of the intriguing non-chip stuff people brought to show, trade and sell.



I also, of course, bought a little something. OK, two things. The first is this fantastic music box (pictured below) from the 1991 opening of the Stardust tower. It even plays "Stardust."

I grabbed it for my mom, who collects music boxes, but I think I may keep it. The amazing part was that the seller had wanted to sell it for $25 and started a silent auction with bidding beginning at $5. It was too silent. When I came along his deadline had passed and he let me have it for $5!!!


My other treasure was a June 1955 Life Magazine that is constantly referenced whenever people ask if Vegas is hitting its outer limits of growth. The main art is of a Moulin Rouge showgirl but in the upper right corner of the cover was the headline "Las Vegas - Is Boom Overextended?" That was 52 years ago. The guy had five of them, each going for $25. I bought three, including one for the LVRocks.Com studio and one for an as-yet-determined friend or professional contact. I'll sit down to read the stories later and let you know what I uncover.