[Ads-l] Antedatings of "blue chip"

[Hugo]

blue chip, n.

A blue-coloured counter used in gambling and poker. OED: 1873.

Here's a couple of antedatings, both in the card game of faro:

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We have had another descent by the police upon the faro banks, and the
capture of an indefinite quantity of red, white and blue chips, card
boxes, faro tables, playing cards, etc, etc.
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Memphis daily appeal. (Memphis, Tenn.), 13 Oct. 1862. Chronicling
America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
<http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045160/1862-10-13/ed-1/seq-2/>

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This 1866 newspaper writes of a man of "most luxurious habits":

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Languidly and with a becoming blase air he would walk up to the faro
table of a gaming room and invest a few hundreds in "blue chips" just
as a starting "stake."
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The Wheeling daily intelligencer. (Wheeling, W. Va.), 18 Jan. 1866.
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
<http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026844/1866-01-18/ed-1/seq-3/>

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Hugo

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