who collects Belgium chips or mother of pearl, aka nacre

[steevbe]

and can tell me what the insect on this mop plaque stands for?
Is this just a decoration or does it represent a region where the casino was at?
Every answer will be appreciated.

[Figleaf]

The insect is somewhere between a heraldic and naturalistic bee. In Europe, the bee symbolises hard work, saving and sensible behaviour. In this case, when it is so small, it may be a mark of the maker or designer or indeed a reference to a town. Check Belgian town arms and names that look or sound like abeille or bij.

Peter

[steevbe]

Thanks Peter, but this is on a French mop chip. Most likely a poker chip end 19th century.
Maybe it symbolises to carefully place a bet when using this 500F denomination chip?
France is not my speciality, that's why I was interested to find out more.

[Figleaf]

It depends very much on dating, but I have seen pretty recent nacre chips from the Monaco casino. While FFR 500 was a lot of money until 1939, it was a very modest amount after 1945. Anyway, the bee is not a symbol for caution.

Peter