Abstract
Gaming counters are the historical precedent to today'sgaming chips and tokens widely used in Casinos around theworld. In use since the 1200s, the genre has changed withtime and cultures. The study of American counters was undertaken by numismatist Benjamin Fauver who publishednine books on the subject. Fauver's personal collectionprovides an important window into the study of the manufacture, distribution and use of many of these counters.

American counters come in many forms from manydifferent die sinkers from several different countries overa wide span in time. Their use was ostensibly for a varietyof card games, which may have begun with Whist, a formof Bridge as we know it today. Originally a western European game, it worked its way into America but was never aspopular as it was in Europe. Instead, forms of poker tookover, still prevalent today.

During the course of study of counters, some glaringanomalies arose, true mysteries that became the source ofquestions and intrigue.

This paper aims to lay out a general discussion of counters: where they came from, how they were used, whomade them, how they were distributed and other factors.Part of the discussion is the use of Fauver's catalogs, something quite difficult for the average numismatist. Followingthe general discussion is an outline of the questions thatarose from the research. The key questions of interest are"Why and when were US gold coin look-alikes made?""Where were they distributed, and under what circumstances?" These important questions have never beenasked or contemplated in published works.The findings are surprising, even possibly controversial.

Introduction
American Gaming Counters should be as widely collected as the US gold coins they mimic. Unfortunately, overallthey are rare. Today, the main reason they are rare is thatBenjamin Fauver fell in love with the pieces, collected andbought virtually every piece he could afford (circa 1970-1992) and hoarded them with the ultimate goal of writingand publishing the definitive collecting guidebooks, whichhe did in 1989 with a series of nine books. Fauver boughtout nearly all the old collections, scoured coin shows, ranadvertisements and went after every collecting medium hecould think of to gather "counters."

The result was that Fauver collected thousands ofpieces. He became fascinated with the source in antiquityof counters in western Europe and began collecting thosetoo.

Over the years, as I became fascinated with these lookalike US gold coins and relics of the California Gold Rushgambling communities, our company(s) began acquiringthem, first as a collection, then for resale. At the time,getting counters "slabbed" by third party grading services was almost impossible. While a few were listed ina number of important references such as Russ Rulau'smassive token tome, most were unknown to the gradingservices, who did not have copies of Fauver's catalogs. Myattempts at third party grading years ago were futile. We"typed" each piece we sent in, only to have the gradingservice completely ignore the Fauver "type" and catalognumber. Days and weeks of study went completely downthe drain. Fauver's guidebooks didn't help - they wereprivately published in small quantity, difficult to attain, andare complicated with very little discussion about the piecesthemselves, something we all like to read and learn about.

Today, there is better communication and understanding between all parties, and the problems we face in thecollecting community are much different. The biggestproblem was created by Fauver himself - he hoarded everything he could get, which removed competing collectors from the field, and the desire or demand for countersfell dramatically. Today, we've seen this pattern far toooften- in the collecting fields of "western outlaws", rarewestern photographs and many more fields, where onevery serious and enthusiastic collector in each field boughteverything, then quit collecting when the collecting goalwas achieved. The markets crashed right behind it.

The remaining problem is obvious - market. The marketfor counters needs to be re-established. With the FauverCollection, there are hundreds of pieces in mint states. Willthey withstand the cost of third party grading and certification in the new market? In order to get these out in atimely manner, it became necessary to release them "raw."We have experimented with a number of certified and rawpieces placed into differing forms of numismatic auctionswith very mixed results, that when looked upon analytically, make no sense. With this knowledge, we have chosen to"lot" the coins into specific small collections, highlightingseveral different facets of counters that could attract newand old collectors alike.

Fauver split counters into categories, choosing to createa number of separate works instead of a single volume. Allwere privately published and distributed by Fauver.

(no number) Exonumia, Symbolism and Classification (1982)

Part 1. Eagle and Double Eagle Gold (1983)

Part 2. Half Eagle Gold (1989)

Part 3. Three Dollar and Quarter Eagle Gold (1989)

Part 4. One Dollar Gold and One Dollar Silver (1990)

Part 5. Minor Denominations and Miscellany (1990)

Part 6. Latin America and Canada (1990)

(No number) A trial Listing of Recmenmeister/ A B CCounters of the 1500s (1990)

(no number) Early California Counters (1991)

To read the complete article, see:
Gaming Counters - An Essay(http://s3.amazonaws.com/auctionmobility-wordpress-node-4/wp-content/uploads/holabird/2020/08/13175729/Gaming-Counters-Essay.pdf)