When it comes to collections and souvenirs to give to friends and family, the usual suspects probably come to mind: gaudy and brightly-decorated shot glasses for adult relatives, kitschy coffee mugs that stack up in kitchen cabinets and collect dust or a witty refrigerator magnet for a friendly coworker. If someone gets lucky, they may be gifted with a t-shirt or hoodie from an exotic destination. For Harley owners, there’s a good chance a few poker chips were bought to share, featuring a unique color styling and the destination city’s dealership name emblazoned on one side.
Wait a second, poker chips? These aren’t the usual souvenir piece or typical collector’s items. In fact, giving and receiving poker chips is a meaningful sign from someone that enjoys their Harley Davidson, and wants to share their road trip adventures and passion with the Harley brand. Your aunt won’t bring back anything besides a sunburn from her two-week cruise, but that relative – that cool relative, the one that rides their motorcycle everywhere – will probably bring home some Harley Davidson poker chips to commemorate each of the cities they visited.
Poker chips are a small and inexpensive token of appreciation, but they’re also unique, with poker chips being unique to dealerships or even motorcycle types, and a large number of chips commemorating vintage motorcycles and even Harley Davidson’s involvement in American military efforts during both of the World Wars. Receiving the first Harley poker chip will kick off a brand-new collection, but the first question to cross your mind when you get your first Harley Davidson poker chip might also be, “what do I do with this?” We’ll touch on some of the many custom Harley Davidson poker chips available and some potential storage options, along with some other collectible gift ideas.
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Who are the people that give and receive Harley Davidson poker chips?
One of the common scenarios for gifting custom Harley Davidson poker chips happens when Harley Davidson owners and HOG chapter members share custom chips from their local dealer. It’s even a known practice among the motovlogger community on YouTube to mail these out to content creators as a demonstration of support.
Collecting custom Harley Davidson poker chips doesn’t need to be limited to just motorcycle riders that participate; even non-riders, such as spouses and their children, can kick off their own collection with just a few dollars spent at a local dealership. Almost every Harley Davidson dealer has a unique poker chip for their city, and each chip collected and shared commemorates a travel experience, a road trip, or a cruise with some good friends. More often than not, these poker chips are centerpieces of nostalgia, and a talking point for the collector to share their experience on the road with others.
Harley-Davidson Limited Edition Poker Chips
In addition to the custom poker chips available from various Harley dealerships, there are many options online for custom Harley Davidson poker chips that can’t be found in retail stores. These chips commemorate the well-known Harley Davidson motors and motorcycles, most of which are no longer in production, and also include a special military edition to showcase motorcycles that were manufactured and used during both World Wars. Let’s dive into some of the custom poker chip options that are available.
Flathead Series Poker Chips
Just one in a line of several limited-edition vintage poker chips, these chips come in the standard poker chip size and feature the Harley brand tri-color as black and white chips accented with orange. The front side features an image of a vintage Harley Davidson Flathead motorcycle, and the backside of the chip displays the Flathead motor with the years the motor was produced.
Panhead Series Poker Chips
A limited-edition collector chip that is great for Panhead fans, these poker chips also come in the standard-issue chip size and feature the black and orange Harley theme as well. The front side features an image of a vintage 1949 Harley Davidson Panhead, and the backside of the chip displays the Flathead motor and years of production. Each pack of poker chips is sold as a set of two chips.
Evolution Series Poker Chips
Celebrating the Evolution motor used from 1984 until 1999, which is also the same motor that is credited for possibly saving Harley Davidson from imminent bankruptcy, this chip follows in line with other limited-edition versions in terms of design, with the motor and production years on the backside. These chips come in black and orange, with white accents.
Knucklehead Series Poker Chips
This poker chip showcases the distinctive knucklehead motor design that was used by Harley Davidson from 1936 to 1947, complete with a picture of a 1936 Knucklehead motorcycle on the top side of the chip. These poker chips remain true to form with other limited-edition packs; they’re available in orange and black and are sold in a pack of two.
Shovelhead Series Poker Chips
This limited-edition set celebrates the successor to the Panhead motors, with a picture of a 1966 Shovelhead motorcycle and motor displayed on the chips. Customary with each of the limited-edition chips, they align to Harley’s orange and black color branding and deliver in a set of two chips.
Twin Cam 88 Series Poker Chips
This set of poker chips celebrates the air-cooled Twin Cam 88 motor designed as the successor to the Evolution motor. (For fans of the Twin Cam 96 motor, don’t worry – there’s a chip for that that will be talked about next.) As expected with limited-edition chips, these chips adhere to Harley Davidson color branding and are sold as a set of two.
Twin Cam 96 Series Poker Chips
This set of poker chips celebrates the Twin Cam 96 era from 2007 to 2016, and the trademark limited-edition coloring and imagery commemorates the production of these motors. These chips are sold as a pack of two on Amazon. Same as the other limited-edition poker chip sets, they are molded in Harley Davidson’s orange and black theme colors.
Milwaukee Eight Series Poker Chips
This particular poker chip steers from the theme of vintage and discontinued motors and motorcycles, and is the first (and only) custom poker chip on this list to feature a motor that is still currently in use. The Milwaukee Eight motor was designed as the replacement for the Twin Cam 96 motor; therefore, the production date only shows “2017” on the chips, making it a potentially unique collector’s item should the Milwaukee Eight ever get phased out of production in the future.
Military Series Bravo Two Poker Chips
One of two collector’s chips that feature a motorcycle used during World War I, these poker chips feature an image of a 1918 FUS motorcycle on one side, and a dog tag on the other. These poker chips move away from the standard orange and black coloring seen on other collector chips and are molded in a military green camouflage theme.
Frames and Catalog Display Options for Collectors
With all of these possible collector poker chips in mind, what are some of the best ways to display a custom poker chip collection? There are several options out there, depending on the style and preferences of the collector. Below are some details about two of the most popular storage and display options that are currently available online.
Harley Davidson Poker Chip Collectors Frame
One display option that’s available on Amazon is this black wooden collector’s frame, which can store and display up to 48 unique poker chips in a 15×25” frame, complete with the Harley Davidson logo as a centerpiece. There are flock inserts for each chip to stay securely in place, and the frame features a plexiglass front. This type of display frame would work well as a visual display and storage option for anyone showing off their poker chip collection, such as on a dealership wall or perhaps as background for a video, or even hung inside of a home garage space. One caveat to keep in mind with this kind of display option is that only one side of the poker chip can be displayed unless there are duplicates of the same chip within the same frame with their alternate sides showing.
Harley Davidson Collector’s Poker Chip Leather Album
If the inability to show both sides of the chip is a sticking point, or if it is impractical to mount and hang the display frames, there is also a collector’s album option. This album from Amazon features a leather grain appearance with embossed Harley Davidson logos, and has the capacity to hold 54 chips; each chip seats within the page, allowing for both the front and back sides of all poker chips to be displayed. These types of commemorative albums are great for storing and displaying chips as coffee table centerpieces, or stowing in a saddlebag and bringing on the road to store any chips that are collected along the way. It is also easier than a mounted picture frame as far as accessibility and adding newly acquired chips in the future – there’s no worry of removing and replacing a large photo frame on a wall since you just insert the chip into a blank space inside of the album.
It’s about the game, too.
Let’s not overlook the most obvious use of poker chips: playing an actual game of poker with friends. For those that are avid poker players and Harley Davidson enthusiasts, the Harley Davidson Bar & Shield Professional Game Poker Chip Set provides all of the basics needed for a game of poker: a set of 300 professional Harley Davidson branded poker chips split up into four different colors and denominations, two decks of HD-branded playing cards, a dealer button, and a Harley Davidson branded veneer case with enough room to hold the entire set. The case measurements are similar to that of a large laptop computer, and with a weight of about 14 pounds, this kit is easy to store in a saddlebag or pillion storage for use on the road or during a poker run. For players that enjoy both playing poker and collecting poker chips as a hobby, having a separate chips set means their collector chips remain safely on display and the professional set is used for everything else, with no risk of mixing the two.
Other Collections and Things to Consider
All the talk and focus on poker chips and collections begs the question: what if someone just isn’t a poker enthusiast, or doesn’t want to fiddle with collector’s chips? Or what if they’ve amassed dozens of chips and displayed them already, and now wants to move on and start a new collection of something else? There are several alternatives for these scenarios, but keep in mind that not all accessories are items that are manufactured specific to a dealership or region, meaning they won’t always have the city and state listed on them.
Finding city-specific or dealer-specific t-shirts is an alternative to collectible poker chips, and nearly every Harley Davidson dealer has a wide selection of merchandise and apparel to choose from. Visitors can then collect and wear these destination shirts as a source of pride; think of the times you’ve spotted someone in the wild sporting a Sturgis Harley Davidson shirt. Much like custom poker chips, these custom t-shirts make a great conversation piece about previous travels or unique dealerships. The main downfall to collecting or gifting t-shirts is going to be the cost, as these custom shirts can run upwards of $30 each, and collecting multiple shirts can add up pretty quickly when compared to the $2 or $3 for each poker chip bought.
Most dealers also sell collectible scale models of both vintage and modern Harley Davidson motorcycles, which is a unique gift idea for a Harley owner if the matching scale model to their real-life motorcycle can be gifted. There are also decorative tin signs that can be purchased, available both in modern design options and also with vintage HD artwork displayed on them. These decorative tin signs make an excellent option for decorating a garage space at home or hanging on the walls in an office or workspace cubicle. There are also smaller items that can be collected and gifted, such as stuffed animals, coffee mugs, keychains, pint glasses, shot glasses, and possibly even patches. Each of these would make great alternative gifts or collector’s items; however, the availability of each of these items will vary from one dealer to the next, and not all dealers will offer these items unique to their city.
All of the above ideas are practical options for the Harley Davidson enthusiasts that don’t want to worry about keeping track of poker chips, although an argument can be made whether storing stuffed animals is any less of a headache than poker chips, not to mention what’s been said about the cost of collecting t-shirts. There is also the discussion on uniqueness; if the gift is for someone who’s just not into poker chips but may appreciate something else, Harley Davidson has done a great job of tapping into that market and developing merchandise to fit the bill. For those die-hard enthusiasts that live to ride and enjoy collecting poker chips at all of their waypoints, Harley Davidson also sees and hears those particular fans, and has catered to the custom poker chip market with a variety of collector chips, dealer-specific poker chips, and display options available.
In conclusion
Being able to collect, share, and display custom Harley Davidson poker chips is a significant source of pride for Harley enthusiasts. These poker chips are a tangible symbol of community amongst Harley Davidson motorcycle riders and their families, and each chip serves as an index of memories and a chance to ignite a conversation or share a story about the rider’s journey. It doesn’t have to just be poker players or Harley Davidson fans that get into the hobby of collecting chips, and there are many other alternatives that can be collected instead. T-shirts, patches, model motorcycles, and other Harley Davidson merchandise can serve as both an excellent gift and souvenir, and also the starting point of a unique collection for those that are invested in the Harley Davidson brand. Now, the next time you’re gifted a custom poker chip from a friend that’s visited a distant Harley dealership, you’ll know what to do and have a better idea for storing and sharing the collection.