Treasures, page 12-- Chips, tokens, bamboo and cash money

In my collection, if I am fairly certain a piece was used as a gambling chip it will be so classified, other pieces will be called tokens. Some games sets (dominoes for instance) contained a ceramic piece. These pieces will be called tokens as their use is unknown to me and one such piece in a game would not likely be used as a gambling chip. Some domino sets also contained black and white "gumdrop" chips, undoubtedly used in betting. Wooden, bamboo and bone "tokens" or tallies were used in commerce and also in gaming. The bamboo tallies had many uses. They are often called "bamboo money". I have read where these have been used in stores as markers identifying a product. The marker was taken to the counter and used to get the item from storage. Also, these were used in gambling halls. The gamblers would purchase them at the door and take them into the gaming room to use as money. Upon leaving they would be cashed in at the door for real money (if the gambler was lucky and had any left!).

I have pulled many of the following descriptions out of other treasure pages and put them on this page.

Large plastic gambling chips: The red and blue chips were used in the Paradice Saloon in Locke, California. It is thought that the red was $1 and the blue, $10. The pink and green chips are thought to have been used in a travelling game in the Locke (Sacramento County) area. The Canadian dime is shown for size comparison purposes.



Old tarnished brass gambling chips: These were reported to have been used in a "Nam Fong Club" in San Francisco in the 1930s. Recently, identical coins have now been offered for sale as having been used in the French Colonies in South East Asia. The photo is enhanced to make the printing on the coins easier to read.



Brass trade token from Bakersfield, California. Line Wo Co. "GOOD FOR IN TRADE"-- showing both sides of the token. The token is listed in the 1976 book California Tokens by Charles V. Kappen and is assigned catalog number K-59.



Aluminum token used in the Mai Chow Social Club in San Francisco, California, showing both sides.The token is listed in the 1976 book California Tokens by Charles V. Kappen and is assigned catalog number K-1517. One Chinese character in the centre reads "pretty" and the other one reads "house".



Here is a string of odd old bone tallies.



Some of these bamboo tallies or "bamboo money" came from an old Chinese store in Florida. As previously mentioned, bamboo money was used in some gambling dens. Wooden tallies were definitely used in the game of Chong Un Ch'au, a dice game.



9 cash coins found in a section of the "Chinese Wall" near Hangtown (Placerville), California (showing both sides of the coins):



Cash coins from other areas. Some of these were purchased from a treasure hunter who found them in the Nevada desert and in Northern California. Others came from Chinatowns in Vancouver, Victoria, Keremeos and other parts of British Columbia. I purchased several of these from the small Pender Street caligraphy shop in the 1970s. Some were dug in Chinatown digs. I have been told that although such coins were originally used in the game of fan tan, eventually a switch was made to white buttons because the game was often played in a laundry and the buttons could be swept to the floor if the site was raided by police, gambling being illegal.



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