Bill Christy and Bud Jones designed the Top Hat & Cane mold in the mid-1950s. Burt Co. made the THC mold chips (along with HHL and Diamond mold chips) for Christy & Jones, using cups that were machined/polished (vs acid-etched), which created the 'shiny hat' effect. The mold cups for the Diamond and THC chips were sold to Paulson by Pat Sullivan after C&J was dissolved in 1965, but remained at Burt Co. who made THC chips for Paulson from 1964 until possibly as late as 1979. New colors specific only to chips supplied to Paulson were added during this time. The actual date that Burt Co. stopped making chips for Paul-Son is unclear, but is assumed to be some time between 1975 and 1979.
All of the THC mold chips made by Burt Co. were long-cane version (LCV) and made with unleaded materials, as the short-cane version molds weren't introduced until after Paulson moved chip production in-house using different molds, different materials, and a different compression molding process (lower temperatures and pressures than Burt Co.).
All of the Paulson-made molds were acid-etched, and the insert dies were more irregular than those used by Burt Co. Edge spots (inserts) on THC chips produced by Burt Co. were curved along the inner diameter, and the chips were also lighter, slightly thicker, and slightly larger diameter than the THC mold chips later produced by Paulson.
The C&J THC mold chips (all LCV), having been made by Burt Co., are slightly larger than 39mm and do not contain lead. The THC chips produced by Paulson (both LCV and SCV) contained lead from roughly 1975-1998 with some colors remaining leaded until 2005 or so. Both the LCV and SCV molds are still interchangeably used by Paulson today, often producing chips with LCV markings on one side and SCV markings on the opposite side.
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A little Paul-Son history:
1963:
Upon owner Paul Endy, Sr.'s retirement from T.R.King, his son and top TRK salesman Paul Endy, Jr. also left T.R.King and started the Paul-Son Dice & Card Company in Las Vegas, NV with partner Curley Ashworth.
1970:
Paul Endy, Sr. sold his half-ownership of T.R.King to partner George Davies, while his son and TRK General Manager Charles Endy left the company and started the Top Hat and Cane Company, which manufactured compression clay chips using a new process (lower temperatures and pressures).
1975:
Charles Endy moved his chip-making business to Las Vegas, joining brother Paul Endy, Jr. to create Paul-Son Gaming Supplies, manufacturing and selling dice, cards, and poker chips.
197x-1982:
Top Hat & Cane chips were produced by Paul-Son in Las Vegas, NV. Edge spots produced by Paul-Son were more irregular in shape. These chips contained high levels of lead (up to 47% by weight). Actual start date for Paul-Son THC production is unknown, but believed to be sometime between 1975-1977.
1982:
Paul-Son production moved to San Luis, Mexico.
1993:
A new reversed Hat & Cane (RHC) rim mold was introduced, to accommodate Paul-son's new wide graphic and full graphic inlaid chips, and production capacity in Mexico was increased to handle the new product line.
1993:
Paul-Son begins offering custom chips and home sets for sale in their retail stores located in Las Vegas and Atlantic City and via mail order.
1994:
Initial stock offering transformed Paul-Son Gaming Supplies, Inc. into Paul-Son Gaming Corporation.
1995:
New manufacturing facility opened in San Luis, Mexico for replacement products.
1997:
Production capacity in Mexico expanded to roughly 65 million chips/year.
1998-2002:
Paulson starts systematically removing lead content from chip material formulas for all colors. Most were converted by 2002 except for five colors; all were relatively lead-free by 2005. Shaped inlays also started disappearing during this time, and glossy inlay laminates were first introduced (presumably to facilitate new security features).
2002:
Gaming Partners International Corporation (GPI) formed through a reverse merger between Paul-Son Gaming Corp. and Bourgogne et Grasset (B&G). GPI stops selling Paulson chips to the home market. GPI later purchases Gemaco, Dolphin Products, and Blue Chip Co., adding them to their Paulson, Bud Jones, and B&G brands.
2002:
Charles Endy and son Mike Endy started the Blue Chip Company (BCC) in 2002 following the reverse merger of Paulson and B&G that created Gaming Partners International (GPI). BCC was later purchased by GPI in 2012.
2004-2005:
GPI begins manufacturing Paulson chips for the home market using glossy inlays and two non-casino molds -- the PAULSON CHIPS mold and the Card Pips (suits) mold -- in a deal brokered by distributor Trademark Poker. Offerings included the colored-inlay Top Hat & Cane, Casino de Isthmus City,National Poker Series, World Top Hat & Cane, and Pharaoh's Club & Casino. Chiptalk.net was founded as a vehicle for design, group buy orders and distribution of the initial run of Pharaoh's Club chips. Hot-stamped chips on the Card Pips mold (Private Cardroom, Avalon Club, Grand Cardroom, and custom stamped solids) are later made available from Apache Poker Chips.
2012:
GPI buys Blue Chip Co. assets, and later offers a new Blue Chip line of lower-cost low-denomination/no-value chips using limited spot patterns and ten BCC colors on the Sun mold (renamed 'Flower' mold).
2017-2019:
GPI allows clay 'promotional' chips on the Lammer mold to be sold by Gemaco through authorized distributors, using a single white 312 spot pattern and limited to ten BCC colors.
2019:
GPI acquired by Angel Holdings.