welcome to ChezBill

Monday 20th. May, 2013

Welcome to ChezBill, the website devoted to Chinese mother of pearl Gaming Counters/chips. 

The 'Latest Items' box above will take you straight to the newest additions to the website. just click! This has been a really exciting month for new armorials and today a new page was posted with some top quality counters and some very interesting stories to tell. And I am delighted to be able to offer on that page once more some of my favourite armorials the WORKMAN-MCNAGHTEN armorials. These sold out very quickly about a year ago so I am delighted to be able to offer these once more. Please read the article about them in 'Articles' 'Is this the most complex armorial on a counter?' (article #8). 

For those of you new to the website, there are three main areas to look at:

• Reference pages where you can identify and discover how to tell the age of counters, borders etc.
• Articles where you will find information on particular subjects (Billing birds / Valentine pattern, Royal counters etc.). 
• Sales pages where you will find plenty of counters for sale

On the sales pages, postage is included in the prices shown and counters costing over £25 come with a signed, numbered Certificate of Authenticity. And if you are buying from the new sales page as a present, just let me know and I will include a free signed copy of my booklet on Chinese Gaming Counters. Urgent mailing can be arranged with Fedex at extra cost.

I have an extensive range of gaming counters available for purchase; only a small selection is shown here. The selection is updated regularly and includes a reference code to help you place your order; mailing is included in the prices shown. If there is a specific counter or type of counter that you are looking for please contact me and I will get back to you promptly. I regularly supply gaming counters to jewellers as well as to collectors. I buy good quality counters and am always happy to hear from you if you have counters you are looking to sell.

For any readers who live in the U.K., I exhibit at the Horticultural Hall and Alexandra Palace Antique Fairs. At these fairs I sell mainly Chinese and Japanese porcelain but I always take along a small selection of gaming counters and usually have a lacquer gaming box or two on display.  If you go to any of these very good fairs, I would be delighted to meet you. Gaming counters are often very hard to pick out among so many stalls, so if you are planning to attend, please send me an email and I can tell you my stall number. It is always a pleasure to talk to fellow enthusiasts. Next fair: Sunday 12th. May at Horti Hall, Westminster.

My own personal collection of armorial gaming counters is the largest in the world and now contains over 1350 different armorial counters.

I can supply a ready made collection, fully annotated, of over 200 armorial gaming counters. This would be suitable for museum display or for somebody wishing to start serious collecting. In addition, I have museum quality armorial gaming boxes with matching armorial counters available, including one with a full set of 140 original armorial gaming counters. Please ask for details. I have supplied armorial counters and boxes to several institutions (including the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University) as well as private collectors.

I have written and published two booklets devoted to Chinese mother-of-pearl gaming counters. There are no other easily available reference works on the subject.  The first one, “Chinese Mother of Pearl Gaming Counters” is a general introduction to the subject. The second one, Armorial Chinese Gaming counters, was published in July 2008. Both are available via this website.

I accept payment by Paypal, by UK pound cheque or by US dollar cheques; prices are quoted in pounds sterling. Postage is free.

 

Please enjoy browsing my website and do contact me with any queries or if you would like to share pictures of your own collection.

 

                                 PAYPAL PREFERRED!