Gem Mint Rack of Cleveland $5 Chips (1 Viewer)

[shawn15p]

Well....I am a baseball card collector too and so I have some thoughts on this. It may not necessarily translate to chipping, but it probably should. There absolutely are chips that could come straight off the compression mold, into a box, never touched by a human being and not "technically" be mint. Brand new baseball cards that have never been touched are very very rarely mint when graded. I would suspect that not a single $5 chip in that rack would be considered Mint to a grading company that would inspect it's every micrometer under a 10x loupe, give it a grade, seal it up and register it. They would find the label not perfectly centered, a color-dye transfer (however slight) or the bleeding of ink on the H of Horseshoe that didn't meet their perfect standard. I'm not aware of a chip grading company and this forum doesn't seem like the place that people are looking for the perfect un-cancelled Inverted Jenny Postage Stamp worth a couple million bucks. But rather, this seems to me to be the place where collections of chips are bought, sold, viewed and generally drooled on (which decreases their mint state significantly).

So if we're going to get into grading of things for re-sale value of individual chips, then we can discuss that. And if that's the case, then nobody has a mint set of anything, because there is no way possible that even 10 chips in a 1000, straight off the manufacturing line, would be "GRADED" mint.

So....now that nobody has any mint sets of anything, I'll put this rack up against any $5 rack out there.

And for the record, it's just me that enjoys their perfection and they'll never hit the market anywhere or a poker table for that matter. It's my first set to collect and I'm having a ball trying to find the highest quality chips that exist within it.

They aren't mint, per se...but then again, they really are.

Mic drop....

 

[Smiff]

So since we're all having fun....First - Proof of life that the Ryan Rookie card (1968) and the '69 and '70 analogy were real, grades covered up for now.

Coincidentally, all three cards received the exact same grade on a scale of 1-10 with half points used for a total of 20 possible grades.

So just looking at the Rookie....and if you're not a baseball card collector, they look for similar things that we do. Super sharp corners (just like sharp edges on a chip), Perfect color, perfect centering....they use therms like 60-40 left to right 70-30 top to bottom etc. So....where does this Rookie Card rate. Let's have a few guesses on where it lands 1-10, 1 being it's torn in half and hanging by a thread, 10 being a gem mint, perfect card, with zero flaws. A perfect example.

We'll see if @RainmanTrail is really interested or not!! HAHA

 

[Psypher1000]

Lest my comments be taken to mean something they're not, let me be clear - the chips are awesome, as is your quest to put together a flawless set! You're already most of the way there, although as you've already seen, it may take a while to get the $1's. Regardless, I wish you the best of luck, & that your patience is ultimately rewarded with success (and, of course, pics of the final product).

Well....I am a baseball card collector too and so I have some thoughts on this.

We come from a similar boat, then...both sports cards and gaming cards. You go onto illustrate a couple of the reasons why "mint" is often avoided in reference to chips & chip sets/collections. In regards to slabbing/grading, the a number of prominent chip collectors actively campaign against the slabbing/grading of chips. A couple of the reasons are due to (supposed) variance in grading among individual slabbers and/or competing companies, and the inconsistencies inherent in the chip manufacturing process. In regards to sets/racks/collections, as you say, finding a single "mint" chip as would be recognized by card collectors is hard enough as it is; finding a "mint" set - impossible.

As for your Nolan Ryan rooks, yum! I can't "like" those pics w/the cards and chips together enough! The best we ever had I think was a Roger Clemens XRC, once worth hundreds. Now? A pittance.

 

[David O]

You guys are funny. Who cares about terms when we have pics? These are as mint as mint gets.

FWIW (some will certainly argue with me here) there is essentially no difference in resale value between "new", "mint", "played with a few times", "very near mint", and "near mint" chips. I actually ran an ANOVA model to prove this to myself. Not that anyone cares or even knows what that is lol.

That seemed a bit condescending.

Anyway let them man get back to his pRon and let's all quit carping!!!

 

[moojersey]

Great looking chips! Congrats on getting some beautiful 5's!

Speaking of mint chips I had a rather disappointing experience recently with some Terrible's I bought from someone on here. Advertised as mint but they were definitely played with. Yes sharp edges but about 1/4 of them were dirty/discolored and needed to be cleaned to be bright white again and match the others. Unfortunately the term mint isn't an actual term that CCGTCC uses. New is their "mint" condition essentially.

I had the same experience. Pretty sure I know where you got them.

 

[RainmanTrail]

You don't even know it's grade yet!!! But I do have one - Graded, as well as a 1969 and a 1970.

I have the 1970 card somewhere in my parents attic lol

 

[RainmanTrail]

That seemed a bit condescending.

Anyway let them man get back to his pRon and let's all quit carping!!!

It wasn't intended to be

 

[RainmanTrail]

Let's have a few guesses on where it lands 1-10, 1 being it's torn in half and hanging by a thread, 10 being a gem mint, perfect card, with zero flaws. A perfect example.

We'll see if @RainmanTrail is really interested or not!! HAHA

View attachment 73666

That's a sick Nolan Ryan starter kit if I ever saw one! It's difficult to tell from the pic, but it looks like it's in pretty good shape with slightly fuzzy corners and maybe 70/30 centering. I'm guessing it's a 5.5 maybe? Possibly as low as 4.5 and as high as 6.5 is my guessing range.

 

[WillAndrew]

I see some slightly rounded corners and maybe some loss of ink on the corners. It seems to be centered a little low, and also like it is crooked leaning low and right in relation to the gold background? That might be just how every single card is printed, or could be a diagonal cut if that's a thing. I have never once looked at a card grade, but I'll say 7.

This is the first I've heard of someone trying to put together a mint set. I have two $1's that I pulled from the racks immediately that I wouldn't mind parting with. I'm new at all this and they might not be "MINT", but they are certainly miles ahead of the best $1's left in my racks and worth checking out. They are gorgeous chips. Send me a PM if you want.

 

[Smiff]

You've done this before. It's a really nice card and you were in the ballpark. To many people, they would look at it and think that it's just fantastic. The corners look sharp, but when graded, they aren't and when looked at under a 10x loop aren't even close. That's why this card is graded at a 6 and is worth about a grand and a 10 is worth a few hundred thousand dollars.

I think it's okay for people to call Secondary Chips straight from a Casino Vault "Mint", even though I'm sure that hardly any truly are. It's also okay to rummage through 9000 chips to find what look to be mint chips because you can see no flaws with the naked eye. No flea bites, no damage, no scratches...nothing. I think we need to be careful when we use the word mint, especially when people are trying to collect mint chips. But those of us collecting them aren't going to magnify them and look for minuscule flaws. Speaking for myself, I'm just looking for my primary chips to look exactly like secondary chips and to me, those are mint.

NOW - WHO WANTS TO TRADE SOME FINE RYAN CARDS FOR SOME 43mm HORSESHOE SECONDARIES?

 

[Psypher1000]

It's also okay to rummage through 9000 chips

This describes me at the convention last year. My arms hurt after the first day from hovering over the bins & sifting through clay. Looking forward to doing so again this year!

I think we need to be careful when we use the word mint...I'm just looking for my primary chips to look exactly like [my] secondary chips and to me, those are mint.

Seems good. I wish everyone had the same understanding of/respect for the term!

As for the above, I initially graded it a 7. I failed to notice the vertical (as oriented) centering, though.

 

[CHP TD]

i don't care what anyone says

those 5's are SEXY!

Nice work! That would not have been easy to get.

Did any of them still have that Chalk dust? MMmmmm chalky new Paulsons.

 

[pltrgyst]

Well....I am a baseball card collector too and so I have some thoughts on this. It may not necessarily translate to chipping, but it probably should. There absolutely are chips that could come straight off the compression mold, into a box, never touched by a human being and not "technically" be mint. Brand new baseball cards that have never been touched are very very rarely mint when graded. I would suspect that not a single $5 chip in that rack would be considered Mint to a grading company that would inspect it's every micrometer under a 10x loupe, give it a grade, seal it up and register it. They would find the label not perfectly centered, a color-dye transfer (however slight) or the bleeding of ink on the H of Horseshoe that didn't meet their perfect standard....

So by that standard, "mint" means "perfect", rather than "as minted" -- in which case the term "mint" is worthless.

 

[DJ Mack]

In regards to sets/racks/collections, as you say, finding a single "mint" chip as would be recognized by card collectors is hard enough as it is; finding a "mint" set - impossible.

For those that wonder how in the world there are people who only collect singles, not full racks, and pay crazy prices in the process - this here is why.

 

[upNdown]

For those that wonder how in the world there are people who only collect singles, not full racks, and pay crazy prices in the process - this here is why.

I flat out don't understand the idea of collecting full racks with the intention of never playing them, but I love Smiff's hunt nonetheless.

 

[simplysean13]

So that's what a rack of these pretties looks like!? When I put close to 20 of these together, I was taken aback by how great they looked as a barrel. They look even better, en-masse!

 

[Big Jilm]

This is definitely mint:

This is Near Mint (same family - Lamiaceae):

Lol, I hope we do not one day get to the baseball card level of grading when it comes to chips. Such a waste of time for what the chips are and what they are used for. I think most of us are happy with each others definitions of Mt vs NrMt+ vs NrMt vs Ex+ vs Ex vs VG vs casino used. I don't see a ton of arguments on this unless the chips are severely misgraded. But if you back your sales and statements with good pics, that should be all the buyer needs. FWIW the OP pic is the BEST rack of HS $5's I have seen and likely they are in the best condition available period. So, they are indeed special! NICE RACK MAN!

 

[Smiff]

Very kind words and much appreciated. My intent when I started was to have a "Mint" birdcage with every denomination represented. Two racks of $5's was hard and I still need one more barrel but the 1 rack of $1's is definitely the hardest rack of HSC to find. Still working on it but I'm very close.

 

[David O]

I hope we do not get confused and start making Chip Juleps!!!

 

[Big Jilm]

Very kind words and much appreciated. My intent when I started was to have a "Mint" birdcage with every denomination represented. Two racks of $5's was hard and I still need one more barrel but the 1 rack of $1's is definitely the hardest rack of HSC to find. Still working on it but I'm very close.

Wish I could help. Unfortunately, I was only able to distinguish 45 chips out of 300 as obviously better than casino used condition. I would say they range from VG to Ex+

 

[Smiff]

I hope we do not get confused and start making Chip Juleps!!!

David....if you need help putting together the group buy for the Jumbo Bridge Cards, let me know....happy to help.