Newport, KY illegal gaming chips and other ephemera

Most folks don't know that during the 30's into the early 60's Newport, Kentucky was a haven for illegal gambling and other nefarious activities. Most of the operation was controlled by the Cleveland syndicate. In those days the town attracted some of the country's top entertainers like Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and yes, 'ol Blue Eyes himself to perform at some of the top "carpet joints" in town. Once kicked out of town most of the owner/operators fled to Vegas turning it into what it is today!

A carpet joint was a "respectable" gambling house where there was "dinner and a show" to gently squeeze you from your money as opposed to a bust out joint where the main goal was to rid you of your money quickly and much seedier.

Wife and I have a friend who is a serious historian/collector of all things Northern Kentucky. He is liquidating some of his collection and fortunately we had the opportunity to assist him in that endeavor! These are some of the gems we picked up today. First photo shows some scarce to rare gaming chips from the area. At this writing there are only three known $20 Beverly Hills(BH) Country Club chips as well as only three known of the WOLKE chips which have a metal token embedded in them. Second photo shows salesman's sample chips including some rarely seen(in this area) X mold chips produced by Rigdon & Co. out of Cincinnati, OH which was responsible for supplying the vast majority of chips to the casinos in Newport and surrounding areas. Then there are souvenir playing cards from the Yorkshire House and the Beverly Hills Country Club.

We still have a few more chips to find but this was a KILLER addition to our collection of other great Newport area gaming chips.

Unfortunately there is no gambling type category on CW so this is best category I can find. I'm sure the administrators will find somewhere to put it! How about more categories CW?????