I've often heard people ask "Why is it called a Crest & Seal chip"? (including me). I finally found the answer.
Crest & Seal chips were made by United States Playing Card from 1907-1947, and for a period of time by Burt Co. after they bought the USPC molds.
The Crest & Seal name is derived from how they were made:
No stock designs were carried by the company, but rather a specific design element (initial, monogram, or mark) was made to customer specifications and printed on white opaque material (called the 'crest'), and then laminated with a thin layer of transparent material (referred to as the 'seal'). The checks were supplied in square edge, dull linen finish, or round edge and polished, and they were guaranteed to be counterfeit-free and not reproducible.
You can scrape a C&S chip with your fingernail and there is no physical change where the chip ends and the inlay begins, due to the seal. USPC also made inlaid Crest chips (no seal), but those have a definitive edge that you can feel where the inlay starts.
Crest & Seal chips were made by United States Playing Card from 1907-1947, and for a period of time by Burt Co. after they bought the USPC molds.
The Crest & Seal name is derived from how they were made:
No stock designs were carried by the company, but rather a specific design element (initial, monogram, or mark) was made to customer specifications and printed on white opaque material (called the 'crest'), and then laminated with a thin layer of transparent material (referred to as the 'seal'). The checks were supplied in square edge, dull linen finish, or round edge and polished, and they were guaranteed to be counterfeit-free and not reproducible.
You can scrape a C&S chip with your fingernail and there is no physical change where the chip ends and the inlay begins, due to the seal. USPC also made inlaid Crest chips (no seal), but those have a definitive edge that you can feel where the inlay starts.
