Dragonara LGKs availability (1 Viewer)

[demonnic]

I've definitely been bitten by some sort of chipping bug or something. And in the process I've picked up and fallen in love with some LGK hot stamps from Dragonara Casino in Malta (Thanks @Greykin ). The LGK mold is so good, and for some reason I can't explain getting a bunch of chips from some random Maltese casino to make a micro stakes cash set out of appeals to me a LOT. So, I'm going to see if I can manage just that.

Using the forum search I see that there was a cash set which would be about perfect sold here a little over a year ago which was done using milled and relabeled chips, and if it were to come back up for sale at a price I could afford I'd probably just do that and call it a day. But that seems unlikely, and so I thought I might get some help planning out my own. I've spent a bit of time with the chip guide and it looks like there were some 25c chips and 1 pound chips made, and I could use the 5/- chips I have as nickels.

So I think my real question is, are the 25c and 1 pound chips made of unobtainium? I'm not super concerned with condition as long as they stack and play ok. A few bites here or there just add character I think, especially with the older casino chips. But I also have a decent drill press and could work out milling some of the ones I have for a relabel, changing the 2/- into nickels and 5/- into quarters, and the 10/- into 1s (which it looks like is what the other person did as well for the 1s).

I have a line on a rack of 5 pound chips (which I think are just gorgeous honestly) and will probably want to pick up a second at some point, but I think for right now my focus is on the quarters and 1s and whether they can be reasonably obtained.

Thanks in advance for reading my ramblings, and for any help working through this process I get. Just love these chips and wanna find a way to get them in regular use.

 

[allforcharity]

I have a medium-sized set that I was contemplating for a project, but it's unlikely to get off the ground. Feel free to PM me.

 

[BiGGyT]

The original 25c are rare, only seen a couple of racks. 1s were harder to get, but not terrible.

 

[demonnic]

Thanks. I'm kind of leaning towards milling and labeling the shilling hot stamps to create a usable set while working towards getting some of the original 25c and 1s as a more long term collection project. I could just order some reproduction/tribute chips from Tina but I don't think that would satisfy the itch at all in this case.

 

[pluto]

I love the Dragonaras as well! I almost bought the lot you picked up even though I had no need for them lol

@TX_Golf_N_Poker has been looking for more 25c for years, so highly unlikely a rack will pop up anytime soon.

I haven't seen any OG 1 pound chips for sale publicly in years either, I've had my eyes out for those as well. I ended up getting some that were murdered and labeled from some of the same hot stamp chips you picked up (from the old sale ad you saw, I bet)

I have a rack of 50c that I have been looking to add on to without any luck either.

The purple 5 pound chips seem to pop up more frequently.

Your only hope for the rarer chips might be if someone sells their whole set. If you needed them soon your best bet is probably to mill and relabel.

 

[demonnic]

I don't really need them at all, I just want them. I can stop any time I want...

Thanks for the response, it definitely sounds like relabeling is the way to go in the short term then yeah. These hot stamps are so shallow/smoothed out I do wonder if overlabeling without milling might work, but I also feel like milling would give better results and I'm not in a huge hurry. I'd rather make them better over a longer period than just rush to an end result.

It sounds like if I want the 25c and 1s I might be entering an arena with some of the other chippers here, or waiting until someone decides to let theirs go. I don't mind waiting though. In some ways, collecting something really hard to get will help me not spend as much. Or at least, I can tell myself that. I definitely won't decide to collect something else on the side. Nope.

 

[TX_Golf_N_Poker]

@demonnic You have chosen a very cool set to collect. I wish you luck. Unfortunately, I think you are going to have to go to a milled and labeled hot stamp chip for your quarters. I have 90 of the original quarters, and to my knowledge, no one else on PCF has more than a few samples. I've run down every avenue I can find, and have not uncovered one single chip that anyone is willing to give up.

What I have found is a few similarly colored chips. I found a green LGK chips with yellow spots, and a chip with the same colors, but on the flower mold instead of LGK. At some point I will get some Gear labels made and relabel a few of these. Honestly, even with the original 90, I have enough to cover the $0.25/0.50 games that I host.

I'm up to over 1200 Dragonara chips. Here's the last family photo that I took. Since this photo, I've added another 120 £5 chips, and some of the more recent B&G plastic chips.

 

[demonnic]

@demonnic You have chosen a very cool set to collect. I wish you luck. Unfortunately, I think you are going to have to go to a milled and labeled hot stamp chip for your quarters. I have 90 of the original quarters, and to my knowledge, no one else on PCF has more than a few samples. I've run down every avenue I can find, and have not uncovered one single chip that anyone is willing to give up.

What I have found is a few similarly colored chips. I found a green LGK chips with yellow spots, and a chip with the same colors, but on the flower mold instead of LGK. At some point I will get some Gear labels made and relabel a few of these. Honestly, even with the original 90, I have enough to cover the $0.25/0.50 games that I host.

View attachment 1362233

I'm up to over 1200 Dragonara chips. Here's the last family photo that I took. Since this photo, I've added another 120 £5 chips, and some of the more recent B&G plastic chips.

View attachment 1362242

Oooh, great photo! Something to aspire to The green+yellow LGKs would be a pretty decent substitute but I wouldn't want to throw another mold in there, the LGK mold is a big part of why I fell in love with these. I'll have to keep a look out for something like that to work with. I view this as a potentially evolving project, where I get something playable to start, then slowly improve it over time. With the hopes of eventually being able to take a picture like that.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[allforcharity]

You will need to mill these. There is really no recess (if there ever was one) due to age and wear. Any attempt to just stick a label on will create spinners (and look bad).

 

[demonnic]

Which is the opposite of the desired effect obviously. I kind of figured milling would be the better route, and after a bit of research have a 7/8" bottom cleaning bit on the way. Will need to make a jig but that shouldn't take too long.

Almost certainly going to make the whites the 1s, so I guess the next decision is blue nickels and yellow quarters, or yellow nickels and blue quarters. And figuring out labels. May wait to do that until after I've got them all milled though, that'll take a bit.

 

[demonnic]

Which is the opposite of the desired effect obviously. I kind of figured milling would be the better route, and after a bit of research have a 7/8" bottom cleaning bit on the way. Will need to make a jig but that shouldn't take too long.

Almost certainly going to make the whites the 1s, so I guess the next decision is blue nickels and yellow quarters, or yellow nickels and blue quarters. And figuring out labels. May wait to do that until after I've got them all milled though, that'll take a bit.

Or maybe do blue dollars, but I'd be worried about the whites being treated as ones out of habit

 

[allforcharity]

What sort of stakes do you want to play?

 

[demonnic]

Most of my friends will play 0.05/0.10 up to 0.25/0.50 but ideally I'd build it big enough to do 0.50/1.00 or 1/2 as we move up in stakes

 

[allforcharity]

I'm not sure how many colours you have. Right now I'd consider the blue for $1, since they will be the workhorses at your lowest stakes, but you will have to plan for future $5s. 2-3 racks of quarters should be enough. I don't think you should invest in more than 1 rack of nickels.

 

[demonnic]

I have three colors (blue, yellow, and white) and a line on a rack of the 5s, which will be more than enough for a while. Give me some time to track down another rack or two.

 

[TX_Golf_N_Poker]

I have three colors (blue, yellow, and white) and a line on a rack of the 5s, which will be more than enough for a while. Give me some time to track down another rack or two.

Since you are milling and relabeling, I would also recommend the blue for your $1 (£1?) chip. Of course, depending on the numbers of chips you are able to obtain. I say this just because in my opinion, the beige/white chip is the ugliest so i would make that one your nickel, and the yellow chips your quarter. Which spot color do you have on your blue chips? If you notice in my photo above, there are several varieties. I think the orange spot is probably the most rare, ( I only have the one) and the black spot probably the most common. I used to have 100 more of the black spots, but I sold them to another member who is also putting together a set.

Also, when you do get ready to buy labels, @Gear has all the artwork and can provide you with whatever you need. I would recommend his laminated, textured labels as the best match if you also are including some original £5 chips. That will give you a nice match.

Here is a milled and relabeled chip with a textured Gear label compared to an original inlay. Pretty similar.

By the way, you may not have seen that red chip before. It was a £1 hot stamp. Photo of an original below. IF you ever run across any of these that have not been milled, I would very much like to have a few. I'll gladly trade the ones I have that have already been milled for some of the originals. It is one of the few original chips that I don't have in my collection. Thanks for your consideration!

 

[demonnic]

Since you are milling and relabeling, I would also recommend the blue for your $1 (£1?) chip. Of course, depending on the numbers of chips you are able to obtain. I say this just because in my opinion, the beige/white chip is the ugliest so i would make that one your nickel, and the yellow chips your quarter. Which spot color do you have on your blue chips? If you notice in my photo above, there are several varieties. I think the orange spot is probably the most rare, ( I only have the one) and the black spot probably the most common. I used to have 100 more of the black spots, but I sold them to another member who is also putting together a set.

Also, when you do get ready to buy labels, @Gear has all the artwork and can provide you with whatever you need. I would recommend his laminated, textured labels as the best match if you also are including some original £5 chips. That will give you a nice match.

Here is a milled and relabeled chip with a textured Gear label compared to an original inlay. Pretty similar.

View attachment 1362778

By the way, you may not have seen that red chip before. It was a £1 hot stamp. Photo of an original below. IF you ever run across any of these that have not been milled, I would very much like to have a few. I'll gladly trade the ones I have that have already been milled for some of the originals. It is one of the few original chips that I don't have in my collection. Thanks for your consideration!

View attachment 1362780

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/dragonara-lgk-hotstamps-price-reduced.121198/ are the ones I purchased to start, and neither of the blue spot colors I have are black.
And I have some others which I think will be on the way soon, some of which looked like they were definitely the black spots but some closer to the ones I have now. I definitely think I like the blue chips best, followed by the yellow then white, so that breakdown does make sense to me. By the time I get the last ones in I should have ~680 blue chips with three different spot colors, ~300 yellows, and ~500 of the whites. And 100 of the 5s.

yeah, I saw that Gear had done relabels on one of the sets being sold here previously and thus figured they'd be the ones to reach out to for labels, even if they didn't have the artwork still I had to read the post a couple of times before it really sunk in that they were relabeled and not original, though I'm new to the hobby so it was probably more obvious to others. The textured laminated ones looked like the way to go as well so I'm glad to hear I was on the right course there.

I did see that 1 pound hot stamp while I was looking through the chip guide site, and I will keep an eye out for you for it, since I'm going with other colors for my fracs. It's a nice chip, and I'd be happy to help you finish out your set =)

 

[TX_Golf_N_Poker]

That's great that you got the blues with the orange spots, and also a peach spot that I hadn't remembered. It's a nice looking chip. I will have to go back through my collection, and if I don't have any of them, I may try to pry one loose from you.

 

[demonnic]

That's great that you got the blues with the orange spots, and also a peach spot that I hadn't remembered. It's a nice looking chip. I will have to go back through my collection, and if I don't have any of them, I may try to pry one loose from you.

I'll happily trade one or more for an equal number of the purple looking spots I see in your photo =) Planning on keeping at least one of each in original form, just to have and all. Especially since I should have plenty to cover one or two sets even with complications/errors in the process. Which I'm sure I'll have.

 

[demonnic]

Cleaning up pretty well. Short bath in a warm water and dawn solution, then tossed in the ultrasonic for a few minutes in just water and agitated using the toothbrush I bought for cleaning these. Then rinsed in clean water, quick toothbrushing to remove the loosened crud. Few may need to be run again, but overall pretty happy. Left one uncleaned for comparison.

 

[demonnic]

Not bad for the very first attempt. Will need to spend a little bit more time centering and leveling tomorrow but I'm now convinced I can do this. One photo without and one with flash. Looks like these were maybe weighted with brass powder, the sparkles have a more brass than silver looking finish. Doesn't come through in the photos we well as in person

 

[TX_Golf_N_Poker]

Not bad for the very first attempt. Will need to spend a little bit more time centering and leveling tomorrow but I'm now convinced I can do this. One photo without and one with flash. Looks like these were maybe weighted with brass powder, the sparkles have a more brass than silver looking finish. Doesn't come through in the photos we well as in person

View attachment 1371131View attachment 1371132

What's your jig look like. Did you follow the milling thread?

Couple items - the chip needs to be tight in the jig so it doesn't spin. That one looks like it spun. And only go down just far enough to take off the hot stamp. That one looks a little deep.

It take a bit of experience, but once you get your first dozen done nice and clean, you'll be fine.

And yes, those hot stamped chips are weighted, probably brass. I mistakenly stated once that I thought they were leaded. I was corrected by one of our resident experts! LOL. My yellow ones are in excellent to near mint condition and weigh over 11g.

 

[demonnic]

I'm headed to bed but I'll take a picture in the morning. Using a drill press and a 7/8" bottom cleaning bit. Read through a few different threads about milling on the board and wound up copying one of the jigs I saw in one of them.

That one did in fact spin just a bit starting out as I underestimated how tightly I needed to hold it in the jig. And yeah I could tell as it happened that I'd gone deeper than I meant to. Will definitely need to get a feel for it but for a very first attempt I'm still pretty happy with it and hope to get it dialed in properly tomorrow.

 

[demonnic]

Ok so first a picture of the jig. Used a bit of black felt to keep the wood from scratching. We also use this drill press for boring pen blanks for the lathe and such. Not the greatest by a decent work horse.

Spent some time making tiny percussive adjustments (tapping it with a hammer) and checking the bit over a chip over and over until it was pretty well centered. Shimmed one side of the jig a little bit. And I've got five chips that I feel are pretty ok and I'd be alright putting labels on. I don't think I can go any shallower and still get the stamp fully removed, this is me stopping as soon as I can't see any stamp any more.

 

[demonnic]

Milling continues, and I've gotten myself in the queue for some Gear labels.

I'm waffling on the nickels and quarters. If I do yellow nickels and beige quarters then I have enough chips I could potentially make two playable sets with 1 rack of nickels, 2 racks of quarters, and 3 racks of 1s in each (or one large set twice the size) and still have about a rack or more of each of the original hot stamps I can leave untouched. But I can't articulate why I want to be able to make two sets except that maybe someone else would like one. And it's not like I'm planning to make them both at once. Only have enough labels on order for one set and also just don't want to do that much milling to start.

guess I'll just have to decide before I mill a second rack of either one.

 

[demonnic]

So what's the best rack for these LGK chips? There's a bit too much space in the racks I've got right now. Which I've got plenty of, but I would kind of like to get some tighter fitting ones.

Worst case I can measure the distance and 3d print some inserts but if someone has a recommendation for a better fit off the shelf I'd rather do that.

 

[TX_Golf_N_Poker]

Unless you have minty ones (I don't think you do) they should fit well in any rack that's made for Paulson chips. Have you tried "justin" racks? From Tina? I love them and use them for everything that fits in them.

 

[demonnic]

I should have my first ones of those arriving in the next week or so, and will give it a shot. I'm not really sure what sort of racks most of these are, they either came with the one birdcage I bought or were part of a box of free ones I got here. I'll give them a try when they come in =)