Any help identifying these? (1 Viewer)

Wonder1

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I picked these up today and know nothing about them and can’t seem to find another one like them on google- can anyone help?
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Possibly Bakelite/Catalin poker chips. There is a test you can do to determine if they're Bakelite or just plastic by using a hot pin. Google that procedure before testing.

EDIT:
I see you're new. These chips were made for home use. They are either made of a once popular (and now no longer produced), high temperature polymer like Bakelite (Catalin was similar, but more translucent), or they are cheap plastic copies (unlikely).

Their value (if, in fact, Bakelite or similar) lies in their composition. People can't get Bakelite (or Catalin) anymore, and they use vintage Bakelite to make jewelry and the like. As poker chips, they only have novelty/historical appeal (@CrazyEddie ), but as vintage Bakelite/Catalin material on eBay, they could bring more actual dollars in resale.
 
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The swirly translucent marble effect indicates these are Catalin, no testing required. If you search for "catalin poker chips" on eBay you'll find a lot of similar ones, but these in particular are distinctive and unusual because of the suit pips. Most Catalin chips are undecorated. Occasionally you'll find some that are hotstamped. I haven't seen this sort with the inset suit pips very often.

In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, I've only seen it one time, ever - on Robert Eisenstadt's Antique Poker Chips site. Robert saw but did not own a set like this at one time: https://www.antiquegamblingchips.com/catlinRk_best.htm . Here is what he had to say about it:

Unfortunately, I don't own the above set. In October 2009, on eBay, it was described as: "This is a beautiful and stunning Bakelite, Catalin poker chip set! The chips are inlaid with the four suits. There are 100 chips in the set, 25 hearts, 25 spades, 24 clubs, and 26 diamonds. The 4 tube caddy is the type with the card holder in the back. When I bought these they were the only set I've ever seen or known about. The recent Victorian Casino Auctions (Oct 10 - 11) sold a 198 chip set for $6500, without the buyers premium. That was only the second set I've seen. "

Picture:
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Note that Robert is quoting the eBay seller, not vouching for the accuracy of the eBay seller's description.

Comparing the shape of the suit pips in your picture and Robert's picture (or rather, the 2009 eBay seller's picture), I'd say these are the very same chips. The shapes are a little odd (the clubs and spades have small, stubby, pointed stems) and seem to be exactly the same in both pictures.

I wouldn't necessarily expect to find a buyer for them at $6500 just because an eBay seller once said that he'd seen them go for that much in some other auction. But on the other hand, just in case he wasn't making that up, I wouldn't let them go cheaply until I'd done an awful lot more research on them. Maybe they're worth a couple hundred bucks like the ones on eBay without the suit pips, maybe they're worth a few thousand to the right collector with deep pockets; without seeing some actual transaction records or talking to an expert appraiser I'd be hesitant to guess.

I'd be interested to hear where you found them and how much you paid for them, if you feel like sharing that information.

I'll add some more information about Bakelite and Catalin and so forth in a separate reply. But in short - You've picked up some chips that are of some interest simply for being antiques, but are of a style and material that doesn't appeal to modern fans of poker chips (such as the majority of the members of this forum). If you, like me, think they're pretty and cool then by all means enjoy them and congratulations on your find!
 
Bakelite is one of the early plastics (along with Celluloid and Galalith). Bakelite is a brand name, named after its discoverer Leo Baekeland; it's more generically known as "phenolic resin". Phenolic resins are made by reacting phenol with formaldehyde. Catalin is also a phenolic resin. Chemically, Bakelite and Catalin are the same, but the two materials are produced in different ways.

In Bakelite, the resins are solidified, then crushed into powder. The powder is then put into a mold; the plastic is then cured in the mold under high heat and pressure, producing the molded part. The final product is strong and durable, and is highly resistant to heat, chemicals, electricity, and mechanical wear. The powder is usually mixed with a variety of fillers prior to being molded; those fillers improve its durability. Because of the high heat that's used, Bakelite is usually opaque and has dull colors since the fillers turn brown or black under the heat.

In Catalin, the resins are kept liquid, then poured into cast shapes such as blocks, sheets, and rods. The cast resin is slowly heated, and after a long time cures and becomes solid. The solid shapes are then machined into their final form; for example, with poker chips, the rods are sliced into discs and then each disc is lathed into the desired shape (usually with a slight bevel on the edges) and polished to a high shine. Because the Catalin resin is heated slowly, it can be colored as desired, including left transparent or translucent. And because the resin stays liquid until fully cured, resins of different colors can be swirled together to create a marble effect.

Bakelite and Catalin are just two brand names for similar substances. Phenolic resins were very handy and were used for a wide variety of both practical and decorative objects, and so were made by a large number of manufacturers, each of which applied their own brand names to the material. And so, you can find a lot of vintage objects which technically weren't Bakelite or Catalin because they were made by someone other than the Bakelite Company or the Catalin Company, but common practice today is to call anything made from phenolic resin "Bakelite" if it's solid-colored, dull, and molded and "Catalin" if it's colorful, marbled, and machined from cast shapes.

When it comes to poker chips, as @mtl mile end points out, these were made just for the home poker market. At the time, "pro" poker venues such as clubs and card rooms were using poker chips made from "clay composition", which were mainly celluloid with clay filler. My guess is that clay chips were easier to customize with features like inlays and hotstamps, which helped professional gambling venues protect against counterfeits. Bakelite and Catalin chips were all more-or-less the same, and any customization of them was rare.

As a collector, I think Catalin chips are quite attractive. Compared to modern poker chips they're very light, very slick, and awkward to handle, but I appreciate them for their appearance, style, history, and novelty. Building a set of them is annoying, though. They're widely available on eBay BUT they almost always only come in three colors: butterscotch, red, and a very dark greenish-blue. The annoying part is that because these chips were made by many different manufacturers over a long period there is a huge amount of variation between batches. Even though they're all basically the same three colors, each different batch is going to be a slightly different shade; color matching between two different lots on eBay is hopeless. Same thing with sizes - they're all basically the same size (1.5 inches) but any two given lots are likely to be slightly different sizes. If you want a consistent set, you pretty much have to buy the set all at once; mixing and matching will be a nightmare.

There are also plenty of Bakelite chips on eBay; as a collector I'm completely uninterested in them. They're plain, dull, ugly, and boring.

Also, bear in mind most eBay sellers have no idea what they have, and will happily call nearly anything "clay", "bakelite", "catalin", or all three at once even if they're actually made of, for example, acrylic or polyester like the cheap crappy injection-molded interlocking chips that started showing up in the sixties.

Hope all this has helped somewhat in understanding and appreciating your new poker chips! Welcome to the forum. :)
 
Thanks so much for the help. We will have to do some more digging. I picked them up a thrift store for 1.99 for the box of 201 so, it would be awesome if we could make a couple hundred dollars of of them. Appreciate all the help!
 
Following up on this post: I spotted this listing on eBay for what seems to be more of this same type of chip:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/133844180123

"RARE VTG BAKELITE CATALIN INLAID SUITS POKER CHIPS - 100+PCS A+ QUALITY"

Amazing Set of Over 100 Extremely Rare
Inlaid Suits Bakelite Poker Chips

Seldom seen set of vintage Bakelite 1.5" poker chips inlaid with hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades. There are 113 total chips consisting of 28 hearts, 26 clubs, 29 diamonds and 30 spades. All have been positively "409-tested" for Bakelite. Each suit has a unique overall color as shown in the photos, and the smooth 1/8" thick chips exhibit the marbleized swirls typical of Catalin and Bakelite. The suit inlays are visible front and back.
Collectors rarely have an opportunity to obtain these remarkable pieces. The late Robert Eisenstadt, whose gambling chip and memorabilia website served as a gold mine of information on similar collectibles, noted that a recent Victoria Casino Auction sold a 198-chip set of the same chips for over $6500 - only the second set he'd ever seen.
Please inquire with any questions before bidding. No returns on these items.​

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I don't think this is @Wonder1 's set, since the number of chips is different and it looks like the colors are slightly different as well. I'm mostly posting this just for the sake of anyone else who might come around looking for more information about these unusual antique suited Catalin chips.

The seller is listing these for $1,600, and he's aware of the old quote via Robert Eisenstadt about a set of these selling somewhere for $6,500. I'll be very interested to see what these end up going for.

@Wonder1 , if you're still around, I'd love to find out what, if anything, you've learned about your own chips.
 
I actually sent mine to an auction last month and was happy with the $500 they brought. The coloring did look off on these but after further review if the count (I kept a few out) and the location of the seller, I am certain they are the same set. It will be fun to see what they sell them for- I turned my 1.99 Into $500 and kept a few out so, I am good!
 

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