Anyone have any idea what these might be? (1 Viewer)

chipinla

4 of a Kind
Joined
Apr 12, 2018
Messages
7,256
Reaction score
21,322
Location
Here. Sometimes there. But mostly not
9DCBDE33-E397-4452-814C-340520B5B6A0.jpeg
D3CBF67F-8FE4-4437-A70A-FDBAD72CEBF5.jpeg

Anyone have any idea what these might be or a value? Kind of hard to tell what that mold is.
 
I like the Hub molds, they'd probably be as nice to play with as DISQ. The problem is getting enough of them in different colours to make a playable set, and even the they should probably be milled to take a custom laminated label.

Ballpark, what, 70-80 years old?
 
I like the Hub molds, they'd probably be as nice to play with as DISQ. The problem is getting enough of them in different colours to make a playable set, and even the they should probably be milled to take a custom laminated label.

Ballpark, what, 70-80 years old?
I picked these up on Facebook Marketplace. I figured they were pretty old from the pic. Been looking up a bit of info but that sounds about right
 
Last edited:
I like the mold, thought I had a bunch of but the rest turned out to be diamonds
I only have 2 blanks
no idea about history, or who made these
1650215933823.png
 
Last edited:
I have a whole pile of chips like what the OP posted, I'm going to list them over on the chip board unless somebody here wants them for something
 
How about this one?
View attachment 908024
Anyone know what this mold was?
Somebody sold a mint barrel of flower molds on eBay recently. Very nice looking - I was hoping to grab them for $30. It sat at like $4 all week, then ended up going for like $150 in the last minute.

Edit: nope, they went for $56
 
Last edited:
The yellow chip is a HUB mold chip made by
Mason & Company . I have seen chips using
this HUB mold from clubs as early as the 1930’s
 
Those are absolutely vintage. Could they be either an old custom set or maybe even chips used at an illegal casino? That is my best assumption based on my experience.
 
Anyone have any idea what these might be or a value? Kind of hard to tell what that mold is.

I'm a little late in replying to the OP, but I can provide some more information on those "LAC" hub mold chips. As others have noted, Mason & Co. owned that mold design. They were made first by the United States Playing Card Co., and beginning around 1947 by the Burt Co., which eventually becomes Atlantic Standard Molding (ASM), and Classic Poker Chips (CPC).

The records and the order cards of the Mason Co. have been preserved. Your chips were sold to Sig Solomon, at 16th and Valencia St., San Francisco, California, in 1935. There were originally four colors, yellow, white, red and blue. This comes from The Gaming Table (5th Ed., 2017).
 
I'm a little late in replying to the OP, but I can provide some more information on those "LAC" hub mold chips. As others have noted, Mason & Co. owned that mold design. They were made first by the United States Playing Card Co., and beginning around 1947 by the Burt Co., which eventually becomes Atlantic Standard Molding (ASM), and Classic Poker Chips (CPC).

The records and the order cards of the Mason Co. have been preserved. Your chips were sold to Sig Solomon, at 16th and Valencia St., San Francisco, California, in 1935. There were originally four colors, yellow, white, red and blue. This comes from The Gaming Table (5th Ed., 2017).
Great to know thanks!
 
Also late to the discussion, but as noted by @Colquhoun , the “B” chips are commonly referred to as “Paranoid” chips… that is the name of an old proprietary clay composite material first made by The US Playing Card Company (USPCC) in Cincinnati, OH around 1907 and also later by Burt Co (which eventually became Chipco). The term Paranoids has become a somewhat generic term for all similar chips, kind of like “Kleenex” has for “facial tissue”.

These chips are also sometimes called Crest & Seal, but technically those chips have a protective layer (seal) over the white inlay (crest) to protect it…. and as far as I can tell from my research, we’re only made by Burt Co as a premium custom designed chip.

Paranoids came in dozens of designs and colors, ranging from geometric designs, to monograms (like yours), and everything in between. The white portion is actually pressed into/onto the surface of the chip… if removed you’d see an indentation of the pattern in the base color (brown for your chips). See an example of the Comet design as my avatar photo.

Most of these come from the 1930-40s, and these types of chips were used both for poker and faro/poker wheel.

See some pics below for reference.
83235BAE-560C-4E3A-A20B-6A640F1624BA.jpeg9F2369F9-B24A-467D-A879-08AEA5C456A4.jpeg6644365B-7225-49A9-BD9E-E093BB9F38D9.jpeg945EFA2D-7188-4C78-9E2A-23E34283DC64.jpeg70F2FA1B-357E-4304-B632-D38D70F6E9C0.pngFAB6C483-1EC3-4CE5-8E86-516D019DFD1E.png
 
Also late to the discussion, but as noted by @Colquhoun , the “B” chips are commonly referred to as “Paranoid” chips… that is the name of an old proprietary clay composite material first made by The US Playing Card Company (USPCC) in Cincinnati, OH around 1907 and also later by Burt Co (which eventually became Chipco). The term Paranoids has become a somewhat generic term for all similar chips, kind of like “Kleenex” has for “facial tissue”.

Burt became ASM in the 1980s when it was purchased by Jim Blanchard. I'm fairly sure Burt didn't become Chipco....


http://classicpokerchips.com/aboutus.htm
 
These chips are also sometimes called Crest & Seal, but technically those chips have a protective layer (seal) over the white inlay (crest) to protect it
I don't believe that is correct. I believe that is a misunderstanding which has been propagated by some collectors. "Crest and seal" simply refers to a chip which has a card room's symbol - aka their crest, aka their seal - printed on an inlay. Inlays are usually laminated, but it doesn't make sense to refer to that lamination as a "seal". Some other commenters have suggested that the "seal" is some sort of covering across the entire chip face and not just the inlay, but chips aren't fabricated this way. I think a lot of the early generation of collectors had very little understanding of how chips are manufactured.
 
I don't believe that is correct. I believe that is a misunderstanding which has been propagated by some collectors. "Crest and seal" simply refers to a chip which has a card room's symbol - aka their crest, aka their seal - printed on an inlay. Inlays are usually laminated, but it doesn't make sense to refer to that lamination as a "seal". Some other commenters have suggested that the "seal" is some sort of covering across the entire chip face and not just the inlay, but chips aren't fabricated this way. I think a lot of the early generation of collectors had very little understanding of how chips are manufactured.

I believe this is absolutely correct. Both crest and seal here should be taken as nouns. It makes very little sense to interpret 1st as noun and 2nd as verb. This hearkens back to the days when a signet ring with the family crest was used to imprint a molten wax seal on written documents to establish security and authenticity.
 
Burt became ASM in the 1980s when it was purchased by Jim Blanchard. I'm fairly sure Burt didn't become Chipco....


http://classicpokerchips.com/aboutus.htm

True, Burt did not become Chipco, but the previous owner of Burt, John Kendall, did start Chipco. 2 separate companies.

I suppose technically true and I defer to your expertise… but if you buy all the assets and rename the company (done twice), in my opinion it becomes the new company each time. Burt Co > ASM > Classic Poker Chips.
Maybe we’re splitting hairs, but why does CPC make a point to highlight their Burt Co roots if not to proivide a provenance?

From CPC website:
In 1988, Jim Blanchard acquired all the assets from the Burt Company, renamed the company Atlantic Standard Molding and continued making poker chips in Portland, Maine for 24 years until August 2012 when he decided to retire.
In December 2013, two chip enthusiasts, David Spragg & David Sarles, purchased the assets and persuaded Jim to come out of retirement and set up a new factory, close to the original location. This new company, Classic Poker Chips, launched in March 2014.”​

In any case, as far as the OP’s topic goes, Burt Co also made these types of chips.

I don't believe that is correct. I believe that is a misunderstanding which has been propagated by some collectors. "Crest and seal" simply refers to a chip which has a card room's symbol - aka their crest, aka their seal - printed on an inlay. Inlays are usually laminated, but it doesn't make sense to refer to that lamination as a "seal". Some other commenters have suggested that the "seal" is some sort of covering across the entire chip face and not just the inlay, but chips aren't fabricated this way. I think a lot of the early generation of collectors had very little understanding of how chips are manufactured.

I agree that a laminate was probably NOT placed across the the entire chip, just the inlay… [edited for clarity].

I also acknowledge that their continues to be lots of “discussion” on what exactly a crest & seal chip was… I tend to agree with your assessment, @CrazyEddie and @allforcharity , but I’ve only ever seen concrete evidence of what I put forth.

According to Allen Myers of Marlowe’s Casino Chips and poker chip authority and author David Seymour:
“Instead of trying to define the meaning of the term, “Crest & Seal” in my own words, I am enclosing a page from The Burt Co., courtesy of Dale Seymour. This gives you the meaning of a C&S chip direct from the words of The Burt Co.”
A1265D9F-D881-4AB4-9ACA-C7B694A5DD68.png

So maybe I shouldn’t quote it as Gospel as it could have just been a misguided explanation by the copy editor of their catalog, but at least it’s something taken directly from a company’s archive… doesn’t really matter on which side of this you come down on, though. I primarily mentioned the C&S moniker because it is often used interchangeably with Paranoid.

As far as value of these, I try to buy them for 30-40 cents apiece when in bulk quantities…. But they are often sold on eBay for $1-4 apiece as singles to some collectors.
 
Last edited:

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account and join our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Back
Top Bottom