It may become collector beware regarding the $10 Silver Premium Gaming Tokens(SPT's).
As a collector of SPT's, it is now possible to see problems arising since these tokens are "inserts."
The center of the token which is .999 fine silver is inserted into brass rings (Manufacturing note: The token may
be stamped as a one piece planchet and not actually "inserted" after both parts are stamped). This is
where a "MAJOR" problem can occur especially when there are obvious errors on tokens such as what we
have just found regarding the Sunshine Mint's spelling of the word "LIMITED" on the outer rings of the
tokens from Eldorado Reno and El Cortez Las Vegas.
On the Sam's Town $20 token the word is also misspelled but this time it's spelled "LIMTIED" and since
this token is a solid token it doesn't create a problem.
However, on the Eldorado Brew Brother's token it is noted that the word was misspelled "LIMITIED", on
the logo side of the token. On all five of the original El Cortez tokens the word was misspelled the same, with
note that on three of the tokens the word was misspelled on both sides of the token, and on the other two only
on the logo side.
The problem occurs due to the $10 token being an insert. The center silver can be removed from the outer ring and
placed into another outer ring which does not have the misspelling. Rumor has it, that such an instance may have
occurred with the Eldorado token. The Eldorado has another $10 token which does not have the misspelling, and it
was reported that one of the Brew Brother tokens was found to have been corrected. Most collectors doubt that this
token was ever corrected and suspect tampering, if it exists, but we'll wait and see. The casino has issued the
"REVISED" Brew Brother's token where the ".999 Fine Silver" inscription has been moved to the
silver center instead of the outer ring where it was originally placed on all of the $10 tokens and the misspelling
is corrected. If we should find an Eldorado token with the "Hotel" on it, with the misspelling, it should
definitely become suspect.
The two pictured Treasure Island tokens show how altering can be done. The altered token has the ring reversed
on it so that the ".999 Fine Silver" inscription is now on the wrong side.
The El Cortez tokens have all been "REVISED" and the spelling was NOT corrected on all of them and some
were corrected. However, don't be surprised to see tampering with these tokens so that the you will find misspelling
on both sides of the other two tokens which have misspelling on one side and vice versa. These tokens would be
much harder to detect and there is one more obvious problem with one of the tokens outer rings. The token with
the "1941 Building" on it has the inscription ".999 FINE SILVER" on both sides. The other four
tokens have the word "EL CORTEZ" on the reverse sides. So many variations of suspected tampering may
be possible. Here are how the Sunshine Mint's misspelling's stack up in my collection.
ELRE-2 This token has the "Hotel" on the reverse and the spelling of "limited" is correct
ELRE-4 This token has the "Brew Brother's" on the reverse and the spelling of "limited" is
misspelled only on the Logo side of the token
ECLV-1 This token has "1941 Building" on the reverse and the inscription ".999 FINE SILVER"
on both sides of the token with the word "limited" is misspelled on both sides
ECLV-2 This token has the "1996 Building" on the reverse and the spelling of "limited" is misspelled
on both sides
ECLV-3 This token has "75th Birthday" on the reverse and the spelling of "limited is misspelled
on both sides
ECLV-4 This token has "Jackie & Wife" on the reverse and the spelling of "limited" is misspelled
on the Logo side only
ECLV-5 This token has "Jackie & Poodle" on the reverse and the spelling of "limited" is
misspelled on the Logo side only
As you can tell with the El Cortez tokens, there can be many variations of outer rings possible and they could
have occurred at the mint, but since these tokens are no longer being minted any variation should be suspect. I
for one would avoid paying any premium for these tokens if they are offered as errors or varieties.
Today, I received a report of the McCarran Airport "ROYAL FLUSH" token showing up with another outer
ring variety. I have not seen this token as of this writing. The McCarran Airport reissued its four gaming tokens
with outer rings that have "smaller" font being used on the outer rings. However, in my opinion they've
created another problem with this set too. If you look at the token with "DICE" design on the reverse
that has the smaller font on the face side you will note that the font on the reverse side is "large"
compared to one of the "ROYAL FLUSH" tokens with the small font on both sides. The report I received,
says that the new variety of this token has the "small" font on the face side and a large font on the
reverse. My guess is that the outer ring matches the one on the "DICE" token. This may have been a natural
occurrence at the manufacture of the token, or it could also be a switched outer ring.
With regard to this token, if my thoughts that the outer ring of the "DICE" token is identical to this
new reported variety, I would not pay a premium for it.