Building my Grand Victoria (GV) Secondary Cash Set (1 Viewer)

[codeman00]

It wasn't long after building my Majestic Travel set of chips that I started looking at Paulsons. Never would have I thought that I would have spent so much on a set of chips. It began with me buying about 400 Casino Aztar Evansville chips; but once they arrived, I didn't really like the condition they were in. They were nice but just not for me. So I set out to find another set that I liked, hopefully from my home state of Indiana. I then noticed the Grand Victoria chips which had "accessible & like new" secondaries. The colors of the $5 just drew me in... I watched the classified section and the set building began....

I meant to post all of this as it happened but I had some issues and wasn't sure the set was ever going to get completed the way I wanted it to be done. But the finish line is now close and I am ready to share it one post at a time...

In May 2017, I picked up a set of 510 GV chips from the forum with a breakdown of:
$1 x 120
$5 x 310
$25 x 70
100 x 10
Complete with (2) GV dealer buttons.

 

[SWEATER]

Subbed. Looking forward to seeing how this progresses.

 

[codeman00]

For my game I needed 2 racks of quarter fracs, so I had to choose what chip that I wanted to go with.

I had sprung quickly on the powder blue chips to go with my Aztar's only to find another forum member 2 hours later that had purchased the last 180 hand picked Garden City chips...so I bought those too. Thanks @uclaure! I was all of a sudden in really deep! Once I sold the Aztars, I had to pick which frac optioned that I liked best. I liked the Garden City $1 chips more more because the blue is near match for the blue on the GV $1 chip and I like the pink spots without having to go all pink. The GC $1 actually matched the GV chips much better than the Aztar's in condition and color. The powder blue just didn't really go with the rest of the bold colors of the GV secondaries.

Photos of both options:

 

[codeman00]

So I ended up selling off the Powder Blue buy-in chips to @arch3r. He put them to good use and they look great with his set.

I was in a bind because I had to find at least 20 more GC $1 chips to fill out my rack and also wanted a few more to spare because even those some of these were hand picked, a few were kind of rough.

I was also on the lookout too for a couple of extra racks of $1 chips...which I did find one rack at a good price. They were a bit dirty but as you can see, the GC chips were really dirty. I ordered an ultrasonic cleaner off of eBay and read up on the forum how to clean these chips.

 

[Jeff]

I think the darker blue Garden City Chips look awesome with the other chips. Do you have to have the quarter lable designed, or do quarter exist?

 

[codeman00]

I think the darker blue Garden City Chips look awesome with the other chips. Do you have to have the quarter table designed, or do quarter exist?

Thanks! That photo of the GC $1 chips isn’t the best as far as color goes but I think it’s the same blue as the spot on the GV $1. More photos are on the way.

Yes, the GV 25c label design is done but it was a long journey getting labels. More on that soon with photos.

 

[arch3r]

So I ended up selling off the Powder Blue buy-in chips to @arch3r. He put them to good use and they look great with his set.

Aww shucks, thanks man. (y) :thumbsup:

 

[codeman00]

Then came the challenge of finding at least (20) more GC $1 chips. I knew this wouldn’t be easy.

After complete silence on the classified board for many weeks, a forum member (that I have never seen post) came out of nowhere, private messaged me, and offered me great (22) great condition GC $1 chips….which gave me over two full racks. A special thanks to him! Now I had my matching fracs that need to be desperately cleaned. And what I thought was the easy part was still ahead…getting perfectly matched 25c labels for the set.

 

[Jeff]

That is a perfect flexible set. Bank will do fine with the big denoms.

 

[codeman00]

Now onto the Grand Victoria frac labels. I am kind of a "perfectionist" so I wanted a Grand Victoria label that perfectly matched the set. I looked through all of the GV photos on the site and found a set that had frac label that matched. A huge thanks to @Quicksilver-75 for helping me with the artwork. He had already made the artwork for a set that he once owned but adjusted the inlay to my liking and matched the blue. I used the "gear shaped" inlay design of the $100 which will never see play but modified it a bit for the 25c inlay. (I'm not a fan of the 3 spoke inlay on the $2.50, since it shows too much solid color). The gear shape was a good compromise of an awesome inlay shape on a chip that will be used a lot.

 

[codeman00]

While I was working on getting the artwork completed and trying to find a label supplier, I started getting the itch to find some more GV chips fore the set! Over the next several weeks,

• I found yet another rack of $1 chips at an absolutely killer deal I couldn't refuse. I think this will give me more flexibility as my game evolves...although not necessary!)
  
• I looked forever for secondary $500 chips but couldn't find any....
• I found some primary $500 chips to hold me over until I found the right ones.
  
• Finally, the secondary $500 showed up in the classifieds for a decent price and I added (10) more $100 and (10) $500. Will I ever need $100 and $500? Not in my game, but they look great in the set!

The secondary chips came from overseas! It just amazes me where these chips travel to and how many owners they go through in their lifetime.

(I'll be selling the $500 primaries in the near future since they are no longer needed)

 

[tallsbutler]

@codeman00, If any of the $1s do prove unnecessary, I’m still looking for 80. I would even take a barrel or two at this point.

 

[codeman00]

@codeman00, If any of the $1s do prove unnecessary, I’m still looking for 80. I would even take a barrel or two at this point.

Noted.

 

[codeman00]

I had some issues with the first print company (the quality just wasn’t there) and it took us awhile to source another company/supplier with a printer that specialized in poker chip labels. A couple of months went by. I even bought 2 racks of Motor City quarters as an insurance policy during the process just so I had something to put in play in case my GC fracs project didn't work out. That’s the main reason that I’m posting all of this later in the process than during the process. I was getting kind of down on the process that was supposed to be part of the fun.

I just love these Motor chips but I knew that I really wanted a matched GV set and not a quarter from another set. The Motor City chips are one of my all time favorite chip sets! I would love to have a full cash set (25c, $1, $5, $25).

 

[codeman00]

With a little help, I was able to locate Poker Chips Design / Empire Gaming Equipment located in France (one of the Vendors on the PCF Marketplace Forums). Alain-Pierre was a huge help in matching the GC blue and printing my frac labels. He had one of the other GC $1 chips that the full inlay where it didn’t show a lot of blue for matching. After a few tries and several weeks of trial and error, I finally mailed him a GC $1 chip for proper color matching. That took the ambiguity out it and made it an exact color match science.

Thanks Alain-Pierre!

 

[codeman00]

Here is some more Pron for you. Not the full set but half of it . (Before the GC chips are labeled)

 

[codeman00]

While I waiting for my labels to arrive, I began contemplating how I was going handle our High Hand portion of our NL Holdem game where we put in a couple of bucks at the beginning of the night and the highest shown hand gets the $$. In one game I play in, a person keeps track of the high hand on a piece of paper and we just remember who has it. I had always thought that a chip passed around was better suited for it...and in my game, we're going to have a High Hand chip.

My original intention was to get a Paulson chip of a different color than the rest of the set...one that stuck out. So I picked out and purchased the Isle Casino Waterloo, Iowa Snapper...and ordered some High Hand labels from Gear that he helped me design for a Paulson Chip and also a Majestic Chip. Thanks Gear! Those labels arrived and the label worked well for my Majestic High Hand chip but it just didn't seem to fit with the theme of my Grand Victoria chips. I kept trying to think of something else that would work and that's when one of the forum member @Don Henderson posted a GV sample set in the Classifieds that had BOTH coveted $1000 GV chips That's the first time the $1000 chips were available individually for a decent price.

That was the answer I was looking for...it's ORANGE and it's 43mm OVERSIZED. It's PERFECT for the High Hand chip for the set. I'll just have to keep telling the players that they aren't getting paid $1000, just the high hand pot.

 

[arch3r]

You had me at "it's ORANGE" (y) :thumbsup:

 

[codeman00]

You had me at "it's ORANGE" (y) :thumbsup:

Ha...yes. It was the obvious choice all along. I had used an orange chip for the High Hand chip in my Majestic set and I really wanted an orange chip to use for this set too. I don't know why I didn't think about the obvious oversize orange chip that is part of the GV set! The answer was right there in front of me.

 

[codeman00]

That is a perfect flexible set. Bank will do fine with the big denoms.

Thanks Jeff!

Of course, I went into overkill mode a bit because this set will be in a clear birdcage carrier proudly displayed in my office. That's why the $500 chips were so important and why I wanted to fill the birdcage up. The the $500s will never be used in play but they look nice on the shelf

 

[codeman00]

The 25c GV labels finally arrived!! Now I just need to find time to put them on! (And somehow part ways with those beautiful Motor City Quarters)

 

[nitzilla]

Very nice @codeman00 !
I’m building quite the set too..... I know they’re RHC, faux shaped inlays....... but they are just so damn minty........

 

[codeman00]

Very nice @codeman00 !
I’m building quite the set too..... I know they’re RHC, faux shaped inlays....... but they are just so damn minty........

I can’t wait to see it!

 

[codeman00]

Finally, the time has come....

 

[nitzilla]

I can’t wait to see it!

Ok. I took them out for a shoot fracs are relabeled HS Cincy’s snappers, and $500 are relabeled Paulson Climbing 500s

Enjoy!
nitzilla

 

[nitzilla]

These are my “dueling banjos”......

 

[codeman00]

I finally was able to take some photos!

 

[codeman00]

I finally was able to put my Grand Victoria chips in play for the first time this past Friday night! It was an exciting time after working on this set for many months. I will have to say it was awesome using real casino chips in a game after converting from and exclusively using dice chips only 8 short months ago.

The reaction from my group though was mixed and for the most part seemed not impressed. When asked, I told them that they were real and if they were expensive. I replied, yes and yes. One noted that I would never be able to make the money back in the game that I spent on them. One noted that they had never heard of that casino. Others just slammed the chips around like any other chip and didn't seem to care. One did note is was nice playing with chips that weren't grimy and didn't stick together like they do in our other game...so that was nice...I guess. Maybe he would have been happy with clean dice chips? I had read on these forums about these lackluster real game reactions from non PCF players....and I was somewhat ready for it I guess. All in all, I did expect a bit more excitement but that really didn't happen. It was a bit of a letdown overall.

My "favorite part" (that you guys will appreciate) was the High Hand part of the game using the coveted $1000 GV chip. I gave the $1000 GV to the oldest guy in our group after he notched the first full house. I noted it was special and that I had never held one before I add it to the set. The player looked at it and put the chip on the table. A few minutes later, the chip was nowhere to be seen. I then realized that the player must have put it in the cup holder to keep it out of site? What?! There it sat out of site. He got up to get a drink and I asked the player beside him to get it out of the cup holder before he put his drink on top of it. So it went back out on the table for awhile. After he noticed it, it went back into the cup holder and he set his cup on it for the rest of the night. WTH? I didn't want to be a chip Nazi and embarrass myself but I didn't see that coming. The coveted $1000 GV chip that cost me $20...and it sat in a cupholder all night.

 

[Mojo1312]

Being able to relate, my philosophy is you buy poker chips for your own enjoyment. The problem is deciding when it no longer makes financial sense to buy chips that no one in your group values or appreciates.

A year ago that price was around $1 a chip, now it floats around $2 to $2.50 per chip. What changed? I began withdrawing from the home game scene early last year and gradually started playing in casinos again. I have easily logged in twice as many hours playing cards in casinos versus home games over the last 6 months. I no longer host, have no immediate plans of hosting and I no longer have any enthusiasm for the one home game I still play in. Yet, I have spent two grand+ building a 900 piece mixed Paulson cash set in the last month. Funny how the mind works.

Maybe one day.

 

[Mojo1312]

Thought about the above when I went for a walk this evening, especially since I have little hope or desire in hosting a cash game. A rack at $2 - $2.50 a chip equals a buy-in at $1/$3. I guess when you are sitting down with $220 to $240 to play cards, then spending that much on a rack of chips isn't a big deal.