In 1989, Carl Osborne, then a casino executive at the El Cortez, had mounting debts from an on-going legal action, so he had the idea to approach Bud Jones to make counterfeit coin inlay chips for him to sell to collectors.  His instructions were that the chips should be, as far as possible, exact replicas of the originals.  Bud Jones complied to the best of their ability.  Carl stated he ordered up to 'a case' of each chip, which we believe to be 2,000 pieces.  Later, Paul-Son made hat & cane chips for Osborne also, although some of the original chips that were copied were in fact CJ's.  18 different coin inlays were counterfeited, followed by 9 hat & cane chips.

Apparently, Osborne sold the entire order of Holiday International and Silver Bird chips to one person.  He then offered all the other chips to dealers with tables at Jim Munding's 1^st Bellflower show in 1989.  He openly stated they were counterfeit.  The dealers then advertised and sold them to their customers as genuine chips and still do to some extent today.  Many may not actually know they are counterfeit nor be able to tell the difference.

During the time the legal case against Osborne was building, around 1993, he sold the remaining stock of these chips to Jerry Wall to raise money.  They were sold in Borland's old store along with the remaining fantasy and counterfeit hot-stamp chips.  Jerry Walls had been a part owner of Bill Borland's 'Gamblers Book Store' and bought the remaining share of the store from the late Borlands' estate.  Until the store closed, these chips continued to be on sale there.  When Jerry got sick and the store closed, the owner of Gamblers General and a partner bought him out and brought Bill Akeman into their store to catalog and sell them.  Mike Spinetti saw them and bought the entire stock.

Some years ago, Osborne confirmed he had 25 of the chips detailed in this article made for him and this has also been confirmed by an undisclosed BJ source.  Two further hat & cane chips listed below have also been subsequently identified as counterfeits made for him.  These have also been independently confirmed.  One more chip is still being investigated.  These are annotated accordingly.  It is possible that Osborne also had something to do with the Foxy's Firehouse chips discussed at the bottom of this page but they were not offered for sale at the same time.

Each chip or group of counterfeit chips is annotated accordingly, and where appropriate, details of the genuine counterparts are given also.  Genuine chips are shown in the tables with alpha suffixes e.g. '1a' and are highlighted in red.  Where I state my scans as being of the counterfeits, I do so by virtue of the fact I was able to trace the movement of these chips.

A number of theories have been dispensed in the past regarding some of these chips and I provide my comments with regard to those theories here:

• Holiday International and Silver Bird chips - it has been suggested that these were originally made for Bill Borland to sell in key-chains etc. and that when BJ found out Borland was selling them as 'genuine' chips they severed their relations with him.

This is not correct.  When Major Riddle died and the Silver Bird closed, the Gaming Commission ruled that the estate could not sell the genuine rack chips to Borland.  They said the chips had to be destroyed.  Borland sued Gaming in federal court and won.  The court ruled the chips were part of the estate.  Borland bought them and these were the chips he was selling.  The two stories have been mixed up over the years.  Bud Jones did not make any chips for Borland.  All fake coin inlays were made for Osborne.  See the notes below the Silver Bird issue also.

• Coin inlay molds - it has been suggested that the counterfeit chips have square edges when compared to the slightly rounded edges of their genuine counterparts, and that furthermore, some counterfeit issues can be distinguished by the fact their molds are smooth whereas the originals are incused, and that these differences arose due to changes in production technique.

Although there is a pattern identified with these chips, I do not fully subscribe to these theories.  The rounding of edges is something that is done at the finishing stage and has nothing to do with the molds in use or chip production.  Both genuine chips and counterfeits of same could exist with both square and rounded edges.  Furthermore, whilst it is accepted that the fakes all have smooth molds, not all smooth molds are fakes (note in particular the Castaways).  However, it should be pointed out that there was a change in the production process, which led to spun (those that appear to have concentric circles) inlays changing to a smooth type, and the material for the mold changing to a much harder, more brittle plastic.  These changes help to identify certain issues, but not all, as being counterfeit with absolute certainity.  'Not all', because, while the changeover seems to occur at the time BJ moved from predominately incuse to non-incuse coins, both molds and types were in use at the same time for a period.  Refer also to my article on the Nevada and Diecard molds.

• High denominations - it has been suggested that a number of the chips of $100 and above must all be fake as the casinos they were issued on were so small they would never have either used them or had the means to cash them in.

This theory is not totally correct either.  It may be true for a single table casino, but anywhere larger will need chips of $100 or above to avoid being 'run ragged' by even mediocre stakes gamblers.

• Dating - some of the counterfeit chips are thought to have been 'in circulation' at the same time as the genuine ones.  Park and Sahara Tahoe chips are also said to have been from cancelled orders and sold by BJ to Borland.

Again this is not true.  The only chips that ended up in Borland's store came from Osborne.  Bud Jones would never have counterfeited any chips for open casinos else the company would never have survived.  In the wake of the Gaming Commission investigation over the Foxy's Firehouse chips (see below),  Bernard 'Bud' Jones' widow shredded all the records so that there could be no trace of the other chips made for Osborne.

It is however fair to say that in the case of the coin inlays at least, either there was always a genuine counterpart for the inlay, or an order had most probably been placed at some time even if not fulfilled.  It is doubtful that Bud Jones would have had additional dies made to stamp the inlays.

Although Carl stated, and we know for some denominations it is true, that a case (understood to be 2000 chips) was made for each chip, that would amount to some 54,000 chips.  At 1989 prices that would have cost in the region of $35,000, and it is doubtful whether Carl could have raised those funds alone.  Some of these chips turn up more frequently than others, and like the Borland commemoratives and counterfeits, may have been produced in more than one 'run'.

The Coin Inlay Chips

Ref	Casino	Denom	Mold	TCR#	Color	Inserts	Incuse	Notes
1	Bingo Palace	$100.00	DIE4SUIT	N1363	black	6 split white	NO

As far as I can say, the chip shown above is a counterfeit.  All of the examples I have seen are uncirculated with sharp edges, unlike the other coin inlay denominations from this casino.  It is unknown whether a genuine $100 existed, the casino had plenty of other chips from that denomination, and as the other genuine coin inlays were only delivered shortly before the casino closed, it is quite possible that the die was made but the genuine chips were not.

Ref	Casino	Denom	Mold	TCR#	Color	Inserts	Incuse	Notes
2	Castaways	$100.00	DIE4SUIT	N1444	black	6 light orange	NO
2a	Castaways	$100.00	DIE4SUIT	N0874	black	6 dark orange	NO	GENUINE
3	Castaways	$500.00	DIESUITS	N1445	blue	3 light blue	NO
3a	Castaways	$500.00	DIESUITS	none	blue	3 gray blue	NO	GENUINE
4	Castaways	$500.00	4 SUITS	N1436	pink	4 black	NO	sports book
4a	Castaways	$500.00	4 SUITS	none	pink	4 black	NO	GENUINE
5	Castaways	$1,000.00	4 SUITS	N1437	dark pink	4 split black, 4 white	NO	sports book
5a	Castaways	$1,000.00	4 SUITS	none	dark pink	4 split black, 4 white	NO	GENUINE

The $100 with darker inserts is a genuine chip.  This particular example is in fact well used.  The inlay is 'spun' (has concentric circles) and the mold has the harder, lucite type appearance of BJ's early coin inlays.  The other $100 is the counterfeit of that chip.  There is a noticeable difference in the colors, type and feel of all the denominations.  In my opinion the genuine chips are all scarce.

Ref	Casino	Denom	Mold	TCR#	Color	Inserts	Incuse	Notes
6	Holiday International	$25.00	DIE4SUIT	N6139	green	6 white	NO
6a	Holiday International	$25.00	DIECARD	N1751	green	6 white	YES	GENUINE
7	Holiday International	$100.00	DIE4SUIT	N1056	black	6 yellow	NO
7a	Holiday International	$100.00	DIECARD	N1750	black	6 yellow	YES	GENUINE
8	Holiday International	$500.00	DIE4SUIT	N1054	lavender	6 purple	NO
8a	Holiday International	$500.00	DIECARD	N0945	lavender	6 purple	YES	GENUINE

The counterfeits are shown on the top row with their genuine counterparts underneath.  All counterfeits are non incuse.  All genuine chips are incuse, and of the same characteristics (spun, lucite type) as the Castaways described above.  The colors of the counterfeits are a good match to the originals.

Ref	Casino	Denom	Mold	TCR#	Color	Inserts	Incuse	Notes
9	Park Tahoe	$100.00	HOUSE	N5448	black	6 light orange	NO
10	Park Tahoe	$500.00	HOUSE	N5449	maroon	6 split black	NO

The chips pictured above are counterfeits.  Please see the notes for the Bingo Palace above.  Again, all the examples I have seen of these chips have the same characteristics as the other counterfeits.  It is, however, unlikely the casino could have functioned without a denomination above $25 and no other chips have been recorded.

Ref	Casino	Denom	Mold	TCR#	Color	Inserts	Incuse	Notes
11	Rendezvous	$100.00	DIE4SUIT	V6844	black	6 very dark orange	NO
11a	Rendezvous	$100.00	DIECARD	N2041	black	6 light orange	YES	GENUINE

Both examples of this single denomination of the Rendezvous display the same characteristics as the Holiday International chips listed above.

Ref	Casino	Denom	Mold	TCR#	Color	Inserts	Incuse	Notes
12	Sahara Tahoe	$100.00	DIESUITS	N5513	black	3 split white	NO
13	Sahara Tahoe	$500.00	DIESUITS	N5514	dark pink	3 split black	NO
13a	Sahara Tahoe	$500.00	DIECARD	V6879	orange	6 black	YES	GENUINE **
14	Sahara Tahoe	$1000.00	DIESUITS	N5511	orange	3 split black, 3 blue	NO

** - See note at the bottom of the coin inlay section.  Again, all the same characteristics are displayed for both the counterfeit and genuine chips.