Hi-Ho, Silver!

When the U.S. ran out of silver dol lars a year and a half ago, it meant only one thing for Nevada's gambling casinos: snake eyes. Gone were the traditional silver-dollar slot machines, the familiar clank of "cart wheels," the bulging pants pockets. At least until onetime Adman Joseph Segel came on the scene.

In 1964, Segel organized General Numismatics Corp., a private mint set up in Franklin, Pa., to produce commemorative coins for some 5,000 coin collectors and hired away from the U.S.

Mint Gilroy Roberts, designer of the Kennedy half dollar. When the casino operators got wind of Segel's operation, they worked out agreements to commission silver-dollar facsimiles imprinted with the names of gambling casinos.

Although a few speculators had already introduced metal tokens into a few Nevada houses-notably Spark's Nugget and Lake Tahoe's Wagon Wheel -Segel's tokens (usually nickel alloy) began rolling around the state like tumbleweed, are now being shoved into the slots of one-armed bandits in 50 of the state's 70 gambling houses. For the operators, it means more than nostalgia. The coins have proved a source of revenue. Customers have taken such a shine to tokens that instead of cashing them in for a dollar upon leaving, they have begun to keep them as collectors' items or sell them in the East for as much as $2.25 apiece. Since last fall, Las Vegas' Desert Inn has had a run of 9,000 on its token bank, the Stardust 25,000. Since the tokens cost the casinos only 250 apiece, the operators are more than happy to see them go.

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