All in for these Poker Chips
“Going once, Going twice….Sold for $66,000!”
That’s how much one person spent at Boston Harbor Auctions on poker chips belonging to famed American financier John Pierpont Morgan. The chips were kept aboard his yacht, _Corsair, _which was famously purchased by the U.S. government to serve in the Spanish-American War.
The ivory chips and beautiful mahogany box in which the chips were held was crafted by giftware manufacturer Black, Starr and Frost exclusively for Morgan.
While an impressive set, the real value comes in knowing that you and your buddies are gambling with the same chips potentially used by the likes of Andrew Carnegie, Henry Frick, John Rockefeller, and President Taft, all of whom were regulars at Morgan’s poker table.
The glasses which these men drank from were also sold for an impressive amount. Eight cordial glasses and two whiskey tumblers were sold for $30,000 all together.
Nice, but what good are a bunch of glasses without something to pour in them?
One buyer shared that sentiment as he passed up bidding on the glasses but purchased a $7,500 bottle of Edinburgh Scotch from Morgan’s personal collection.
There were hundreds of other obscure objects from onboard _Corsair_ that also sold for top dollar. There was a teapot that sold for $42,000, a water pitcher that sold for $5,500 and even a butter dish measuring only three inches in diameter that sold for an astonishing $2,040.
Who knows, maybe one of the before-mentioned power elite used it when buttering their toast the morning after a long night of playing poker and drinking scotch. I certainly hope so.
