Barbary Coast Silver Striker Token from Las Vegas! (@thebighigg)

Today I felt inspired to put together another post about Las Vegas. Why you might ask? Because my good friend @silversaver888 inspired me with here walk along Freemont street along the fabulous Las Vegas Strip. I realized that on my trips to Vegas I rarely remember to take all that many pictures, except when I was there on family trips. And to be honest I'm not sure where those are stored, I'm going to have to do some digging this week.

When I saw her post I realized it had been awhile since I shared a Silver Striker token. These are paid out of Silver Striker slot machines as collectible tokens, and many are made of .999 pure silver. I haven't seen one of these machines in years now, and I'm not sure if they still exist. But I do enjoy collecting the tokens especially if they come from a casino that no longer exists or if they are just a beautiful design. Today's token is both!

I picked this token up off eBay sometime ago because it was in beautiful condition and the price was right. It was made for the Barbary Coast casino which is now defunct and vanished into the annals of Las Vegas history. Fortunately, it left behind some really nice memorabilia like this ten dollar commemorative silver token.

Image from thread

Image from thread
from silverstrikers.com

The condition of this token is amazing. Most tokens you come across have had some abuse or oxidation issues, but this one is as beautiful as the day they minted it. This was a millennium edition which makes it a little more special from my point of view because it was likely minted right around the year 2000 at the Sunshine Mint. It contains about 0.65 Troy ounces of .999 pure silver surrounded by a brass ring.

Image from thread
From apmex.com

And since silver at the moment is at $27.68 USD per ounce, the token has $17.99 worth of silver. However the collector's premium is always much higher because they are Las Vegas casino commemoratives.

Barbary Coast

Image from thread
pinterest.com

The Barbary Coast was a Hotel Casino located on one of the most sought after locations in Las Vegas, the corner on Flamingo Road and Las Vegas Blvd. That same corner is shared by Caesar's Place, the Bellagio, and the Flamingo resort casinos. Opened in 1979 it was a moderately successful casino considering it's smaller size of just 8 floors on a very small parcel of land. It was popular among locals and repeat tourists who were loyal to the property with it's comfortable rooms, fine dining, and comfortably small casino.

However, nothing in Las Vegas lasts forever. in 2007 the property was bought out and name changed to Bill's Gamblin' Hall and Saloon. It lasted only a paltry six years when Caesar's Palace bought it out, gutted it and rebranded it The Cromwell. They added a few floors, a night club, and a roof top pool to fancy it up. It currently is a boutique hotel that caters only to adults making it a popular location for those without children. That's becoming a rare thing in Las Vegas as it's now branded as extremely family friendly.

Here's a current view of the property with Caesar's Palace in the background. By the colors it looks more like Miami than Vegas...

Image from thread
e-imp.net

I hope you enjoyed the silver as well as the Las Vegas history. Every time I go back there there is something new and grander than before, a city that never stops changing! If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them below. Have a great Wednesday!

Image from thread