Bill Borland purchased the Nevada & DieCard molds about 1991. He then proceeded to have the following chips made for him by Atlantic Standard in order that he could sell them as commemorative chips in his store for $1 each.  Bill had a live in, named Starr Warwick, who did all of his bookkeeping and all the research and typing of his 'Blue Book of Casino Chips'.  Starr died just before this time and Bill had the first five sets made as a memorial to her.  After the first five sets were made, Borland sent a frame, in the shape of a map of Nevada, to Jim Blanchard at Atlantic Standard.  A photograph, together with a copy of the front and back of Borland's original advert display board for these chips is shown at the very bottom of this article.

The chips were not made with the intention of mis-leading collectors although this has happened in latter times due to inadequate or incorrect descriptions on ebay and unscrupulous dealers.

None of these chips were ever in play or designed to be in play at any casino.

The inlays of the chips bear a resemblance to some original chips. In addition they bear the opening and closing dates of those casinos.  Jim Blanchard insisted he would not make the chips without these dates.

Per the manufacturing records, the first of these commemorative chips Borland had made were the mis-spelt Jolly Trolly $25 & $100, with denoms in reverse.  Presumably these were some sort of prototype/sample and only 100 each were made.  He then went on to order 49 'fantasy' chips.  7 casinos (Castaways, El Rancho, Jolly Trolley, Mint, Pussycat A Go Go, Silver Slipper and Thunderbird) all had a series of 7 denominations from $1 to $5000.  These intitial 7 series all have the same edge spot designs - $1 have 2 x 3/8" inserts, $5 = 2 x 1/2", $25 = 3 x 9/16", $100 = 2 x 5/8", $500 = 4 x 3/8", $1000 = 1/4 pie, $5000 = 1/2 pie.  From the original orders also comes the $1 Mint in black, of which only a few are known, most likely a result of ASM having insufficient die to complete the order.  Borland didnt care about the colors or edge spot patterns, he just wanted chips to sell and fast.

Subsequently, Borland re-ordered chips from 5 of the original 7 series (El Rancho, Mint, Pussycat A Go Go, Silver Slipper, Thunderbird) and also added 3 new casinos (Dunes, Landmark, Marina).  ASM had originally quoted Borland a low price for the commemorative chips, unaware of the volume that would be ordered.  In order to reduce production costs, the inserts were standardised for these re-orders and new casinos, such that every chip would have 1/2" inserts only. In some cases, as can be seen below, there is a slight difference in chip color between the orders.  This is only significant for the five $5 chips that were re-ordered, as both issues had 1/2" inserts.  All the chips below were scanned at the same time so whilst their colors may not be 100% accurate, the comparisons should be adequate.  On some later orders, the apparent reduction or absence of 'brass flecks' (weighting) was nothing to do with a reduction in production cost (non-weighted chips actually cost more to produce) but merely the effect of using a different color of weight as ASM had run out of the original color and Borland did not want to wait.  These later orders thus yielded a further 57 different chips, making 108 varieties in total.

Subsequently some reproductions (in differing qualities) have also appeared and some of these are shown at the bottom of the article along with other 'fantasy' chips Borland hot-stamped onto a suits mold.  All Borland's chips have cross hatching on the inlays.

Where found, I have included order dates and quantities for the chips although some still need further verification and there may be missing orders.

 

Ref	Casino	Denom	Dated	TCR#	Color	Inserts	Quantity	Order Date
1	Castaways	$1.00	1964-1987	N5952	gray-green	2 yellow	??	1992
2	Castaways	$5.00	1964-1987	N5949	maroon	2 white	??	1992
3	Castaways	$25.00	1964-1987	N5985	green	3 orange	??	1992
4	Castaways	$100.00	1964-1987	N5990	black	3 red	??	1992
5	Castaways	$500.00	1964-1987	N6001	yellow	4 black	??	1992
6	Castaways	$1,000.00	1964-1987	N5940	green, purple	2 green, 2 purple 1/4 pie	??	1992
7	Castaways	$5,000.00	1964-1987	N6025	red, gray	1 red, 1 gray 1/2 pie	??	1992

Ref	Casino	Denom	Dated	TCR#	Color	Inserts	Quantity	Order Date
8	Dunes	$1.00	1955-1993	N6081	navy	none	4000	1/7/94
9	Dunes	$5.00	1955-1993	N5936	burnt orange	2 brown	4000	1/7/94
10	Dunes	$25.00	1955-1993	N5969	dk green	3 green	4000	1/7/94
11	Dunes	$100.00	1955-1993	N5989	black	3 purple	4000	1/7/94
12	Dunes	$500.00	1955-1993	N6010	orange	4 purple	4000	1/7/94
13	Dunes	$1,000.00	1955-1993	N6013	purple	4 white	4000	1/7/94
14	Dunes	$5,000.00	1955-1993	N5930	hot pink	2 brown/2 orange	4000	1/7/94

Ref	Casino	Denom	Dated	TCR#	Color	Inserts	Quantity	Order Date
15	El Rancho Vegas	$1.00	1941-1960	N5941	navy	2 mustard (3/8")	1500	2/23/92?
15a	El Rancho Vegas	$1.00	1941-1960	N5941	navy	2 mustard (1/2")	2000	10/15/95?
16	El Rancho Vegas	$5.00	1941-1960	N5945	hot pink	2 purple (1/2")	1500	2/23/92?
16a	El Rancho Vegas	$5.00	1941-1960	N5945	hot pink	2 purple (1/2")	2000	10/15/95?
17	El Rancho Vegas	$25.00	1941-1960	N5998	green	3 yellow (9/16")	1500	2/23/92?
17a	El Rancho Vegas	$25.00	1941-1960	N5998	green	3 yellow (1/2")	2000	10/15/95?
18	El Rancho Vegas	$100.00	1941-1960	N5987	black	3 pink (5/8")	1500	2/23/92?
18a	El Rancho Vegas	$100.00	1941-1960	N5987	black	3 pink (1/2")	2000	10/15/95?
19	El Rancho Vegas	$500.00	1941-1960	N6011	gray	4 red (3/8")	1000	2/23/92?
19a	El Rancho Vegas	$500.00	1941-1960	N6011	gray	4 red (1/2")	2000	10/15/95?
20	El Rancho Vegas	$1,000.00	1941-1960	V2364	purple	4 ochre (1/2")	2000	10/15/95?
21	El Rancho Vegas	$1,000.00	1941-1960	N6143	ochre, purple	2 ochre, 2 purple 1/4 pie	1000	2/23/92?
22	El Rancho Vegas	$5,000.00	1941-1960	V2365	orange	2 yellow/2 brown (1/2")	2000	10/15/95?
23	El Rancho Vegas	$5,000.00	1941-1960	N6024	orange, brown	1 orange, 1 brown 1/2 pie