Michael Knapp
Michael Knapp was one of the Club's organizers, Charter Member 007, and was its first Secretary, a position he held from the inception of the Club until 1999. He was co-chairman of the first Club convention in 1993 with Archie Black, was the Club's Educational Chairman from 1993 until 2001, organizing all the seminars at the conventions during that period. He currently serves as Chairman of the Committee on Standards and Archives. In 2002, he was awarded an honorary life membership for his contributions to the Club over the years, one of only six members to receive the honor.
Michael has written many articles for Casino Chip and Token News, including a regular column which ran for several years, called The Information Booth. He wrote the Knapp on Books column for the Chequers web magazine, and now writes the same column for the Club magazine. Michael has also written articles about chip collecting for a number of other non-Club publications, including a regular column for Casino Player. He was a pioneer in electronic chipping, arranging for a regular meeting place for chip collectors on the original Prodigy service. For a number of years ran the first live online auctions of casino chips, tokens and memorabilia in which a substantial number of Club members participated live, from coast to coast, before the Internet was readily accessible.
Knapp has a large collection of casino chips, gaming memorabilia, ivories and mother-of-pearl chips. His passion for the history behind the chips has also helped him build one of the most complete libraries of books about gambling, gaming figures, and casino history. He serves as Chairman of the Club's Standards and Archives Committee and Hall of Fame Committee.
He is one of the co-authors, with Allan Myers and Ernie Wheelden, of The Chip Rack and The Gaming Table, which have become standard reference works for the hobby. Michael and Bobbie live in the Flathead Valley, Montana.
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