I picked up the tokens in an estate buy a few years ago. Found in a box today and have a few questions. Are these collected? Is the silver spot price more than the collectable value?
These are called Silver Strikes. Prior to 2005, each $10 gaming token contained six-tenths of an ounce of .999 fine silver. Sometime during 2005, the amount of silver was reduced to one-half an ounce of .999 fine silver. You can find more information about them, here: https://www.silverstrikers.com/
As been said the amount of silver has been reduced in them, The ring is plated not gold as some claim. Yes some are collected. Depending on the subject matter. I do collect them mostly sold as souvenirs at the casinos. I pick a lot of them up at local pawn shops for a small premium over spot. And occasionally at the LCS I paid around $12.00 last time any came up for sale
FYI If you're one of those who "enjoys the hunt", you might want to be on the lookout for the "Wildlife Series" from Slots-A-Fun in Las Vegas. There are some interesting clashes on the reverse of some of them. I believe the site owner of Silver Strikers is still looking for images.
The last time I visited Slots-A-Fun in Las Vegas was in 2007. They had a pair of machines that paid out nothing but Silver Strikes. It was 75c per game, and the machines were very "loose". I spent about $80 and amassed 77 of the $10 gaming tokens. Of course, I could have cashed them in at the cashier's window, but since each of these gaming tokens were in a plastic airtite, I chose to take them home. I'm glad I did because when silver skyrocketed a few years later, I made out like a bandit when I sold them. FWIW, the Stardust also had several slot machines that paid out nothing but $10 gaming tokens, and they were just as "loose" as the machines at Slots-A-Fun.
Yes some do and some don't as far as I can tell, or people that get themtake them out of the airtites
