Although the first gambling house was legalised in Venice in 1626, casino poker chip set actual poker chips as we now know them were still not used for over two hundred more years. poker chip with aluminum case Back in the 1800s and prior, casino poker set poker players seemed to use any small valuable object imaginable. Early poker players sometimes used jagged gold pieces, gold nuggets, gold dust, or coins as well as "chips" primarily made of ivory, bone, wood, paper and a composition made from clay and shellac.

Several companies between the 1880s and the late 1930s made clay composition poker chips. There were over 1000 designs from which to choose. Most chips were white, red, blue and yellow but they could be made in almost any color desired.