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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;airedale, post: 131626, member: 4695&quot;]<b>Here is one version!</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Who was Ted Binion?</p><p>Ted Binion was the son of Lester &quot;Benny&quot; Binion, founder of the Binion&#039;s Horseshoe casino in Las Vegas.&nbsp; A collector and believer in the importance of owning silver assets, Binion acquired most of his coins at face value in the 1950s and early 1960s.&nbsp; In 1951, Benny opened Binion&#039;s Horseshoe casino.&nbsp; Thanks to the combination of Benny&#039;s marketing skills and the growing number of tourist visiting Las Vegas, the Horseshoe flourished.&nbsp; Ted Binion, whose real first name was Lonnie, grew up in the hotel and casino business in the 1950s and 1960s.&nbsp; That meant he was constantly surrounded by cash.&nbsp; Cash was used on the poker tables, craps tables and blackjack tables.&nbsp; Cash was used in all of the casino&#039;s games and in all of its slot machines.&nbsp; The cash could be paper money or it could be silver coins, both of which were plentiful.</p><p><br /></p><p>When Ted worked in the cashier&#039;s room at the casino, he received and paid out silver coins that ranged from tiny Mercury and Roosevelt dimes to large Morgan and Peace dollars.&nbsp; Like so many Americans of that era, he often came across scarcer-date coins worth more than their face value and added them to his collection.&nbsp; This experience helped him learn the importance of a circulated coin&#039;s grade or an uncirculated coin&#039;s state of preservation. Like every casino in the state, Binion&#039;s Horseshoe hotel and casino ordered and received a constant flow of silver dollars from its bank.&nbsp; Ted was in an advantageous position to inspect the 1,000-coin bags as they arrived.&nbsp; When a superior-quality bag was delivered he purchased it for himself.</p><p><br /></p><p>Ted Binion filled his secret underground vault in the Nevada desert with a spectacular accumulation of silver bars and silver dollar bags.&nbsp; As a wealthy man&#039;s son and part owner of a successful Las Vegas casino, he could afford to add bags of silver dollars to his holdings.&nbsp; After all, they could always be brought back to the casino if they were needed.&nbsp; Ted Binion met 23-year old Sandy Murphy in 1995 at the age of 52 and was smitten with her beauty.&nbsp; Shortly thereafter, she moved into his 8,000-square-foot home and he rewrote his will, stipulating that upon his death she would receive the house, its contents, $300,000 in cash and a $90,000 Mercedes.</p><p><br /></p><p>In 1998, Binion paid Rick Tabish $40,000 to construct a concrete and steel vault in the desert and entrusted him with the door&#039;s combination.&nbsp; Secretly, Murphy and Tabish became lovers.&nbsp; Later that year, Ted Binion died in his home under mysterious circumstances.&nbsp; Two years later, after a sensational trial intimately covered by major newspapers, national magazines and &quot;Court TV,&quot; a Nevada jury convicted Murphy and Tabish of murdering the millionaire casino boss.&nbsp; Two factors account for the generally high quality of the Binion silver dollars.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; First, based on his personal experience, Ted Binion selected only high-quality coins for himself.&nbsp; The lower-quality coins were used in the casino.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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