"Bargaining Chip": Antedating & Mystery

[Dave Wilton]

> >For years I have been posing a question about "bargaining
> >chip" that no one has yet answered.  This is widely
> >assumed to be a poker metaphor, but I do not know of chips
> >being used for bargaining in poker or any other game.
> >What exactly is the metaphor?
>
> Interesting.  I also doubt it's poker; most poker metaphors (and
> there are quite a bunch) are pretty transparent, and indeed poker
> players don't actually bargain, much less use chips to do so.

Yes, but it wouldn't be the first poorly constructed or mixed metaphor in
the English language.

Could there be a confusion with "chit"? Someone has something of value,
represented by a chit, that can be negotiated away for another
consideration.