The odds of coming across a first-issue gaming chip from Bugsy Seigel's Flamingo Hotel — among the first big hotels and casinos on the Las Vegas Strip — would be very slim.

But Steve McLendon of Kunia has one.

"It's very unassuming," McLendon said of his 1946 treasure. The brown clay chip has a die-cut metal inlay that simply reads, "The Flamingo Las Vegas."

The $5 chip, worth about $8,000, is among the rarest in McLendon's collection of more than 9,000 chips, many dating to the 1930s through 1950s from casinos that no longer exist.

The chips were used for games such as black jack, roulette and craps, although today they're widely referred to as poker chips, thanks to the Texas Hold 'Em craze.

"The passion first came from curiosity, meaning, 'I wonder who played with this chip before? Sinatra? Someone from the mob?' " said McLendon, 53, a former Nevada resident. "Out of that interest came a deep-rooted historical interest."

McLendon seriously began collecting chips in 1992 after going on a cruise trip and spending an evening playing cards at a casino onboard the ship. He left the ship with about $100 worth of uncashed chips.

While looking into what to do with the tokens, McLendon discovered the Casino Chip & Gaming Token Collectors Club. He quickly became member 669 of a worldwide organization that has attracted more than 8,000 members.

At first McLendon collected anything and everything, including souvenir chips from poker tournaments and international ones.

"Once I realized that I can't collect them all, I had to specialize my collection," he said.

So he limited his collection to chips from card rooms and casinos in California and Nevada, then further limited it to old Nevada gaming chips.

When spread out on a table, McLendon's clay chips look like colorful pieces of candy; many are vibrant, some with fun, quirky characters on them.

There's the bright violet and white $100 piece dating to the 1960s from the California Rainbow Club in Gardena, Calif. It includes a scene with mountains and a rainbow. Or the maroon and gold $5 chip with a lasso-swinging cowboy from the Sonoma Inn.

"They don't make them like they used to," McLendon said.

McLendon keeps his massive collection in safe deposit boxes and at home in aluminum cases, cardboard boxes, pocket sleeved binders and oak wall frames.

Some have even spilled over to his office, where he works as a sales trainer, sales manager and a customer satisfaction manager at JN Automotive Group in Ho-nolulu.

"Half the battle is the hunt to find a chip," he said.

McLendon acquires most of his chips by traveling throughout Nevada and trading with other collectors or placing ads in newspapers or trade magazines.

For example, McLendon got his Flamingo chip by trading old chips from the former Dunes and Aladdin hotels with another fellow chip collector.

The other half of the battle — or fun — is identifying the chips and learning the history behind them, said McLendon, who's also a Nevada gaming historian and collector of gaming memorabilia.

Often identification is easy, with the name and location of the casino already on the chip, McLendon said.

Other cases require a bit of "P.I. work," he said.

Sometimes McLendon studies the chip's border design; each chip manufacturer used a different border pattern, such as a hat and cane, Greek key, or crown, McLendon explained. He also turns to his copies of old gaming licenses.

"Through those, I can look up the old (club) owners or their next-of-kin and then (contact them)," he said.

Piecing together such bits of information often helps McLendon I.D. his chips, and enables him to keep a detailed inventory of the pieces in his possession.

"It is a lot of investigative energy, for sure," he said. "But this is just wonderful, wonderful stuff."

Reach Zenaida Serrano at zserrano@honoluluadvertiser.com.