New chip prices (2 Viewers)

[pharaohone]

As an aside, great to see @detroitdad @Lil Tuna @Thomacetti @Perthmike still here and actively kicking stuff around. All names I remember well during my early days. The other realization coming back from hiatus was some familiar faces that seem to have disappeared. And also way less quality chips listed “for sale” in classifieds... or is that just me?

 

[Eriks]

As an aside, great to see @detroitdad @Lil Tuna @Thomacetti @Perthmike still here and actively kicking stuff around. All names I remember well during my early days. The other realization coming back from hiatus was some familiar faces that seem to have disappeared. And also way less quality chips listed “for sale” in classifieds... or is that just me?

Keep your eyes open for the windwalker sales!

 

[Lil Tuna]

And sorry I didn’t mean to create this thread looking for advice on how to build a set but I’m sure there are others following along enjoying the advice so good to keep it rolling.

I’ll offer mine — chip by chip and with persistence. And with a story— I fell in love with uncirculated Sundance chips early in the chipping journey. The problem? You couldn’t find ANY $1 chips in uncirculated condition (still can’t as far as I know), except for a few here and a few there. Well, it took several years and overpaying from time to time, but chip by chip along with the occasional lucky barrel find, I finally got my grail set of uncirculated condition Sundance’s. And man, it was a super rewarding journey and that plays a big part in my love for the set today — something that is truly worth more to me than it could be for anyone else.

At the time I bought my AS cash set, I loved the colors. But over time, I went back to loving my mixed THC set more... mostly old school, textured inlay real casino chips (plus a Le Cove 50c). Time changes preferences. Chipping be like that sometimes.

Awesome story. As a lover of history, the story of your Sundance’s will always be more interesting to someone like me than new shiny objects.
Not to take away from new shiny objects, just not my preference.

 

[Thomacetti]

it took several years and overpaying from time to time, but chip by chip along with the occasional lucky barrel find, I finally got my grail set of uncirculated condition Sundance’s.

Well at least Mike has one of those skillz under the belt

Time changes preferences. Chipping be like that sometimes.

So true...that's why I very rarely sell chips, only when I have no choice chip budget wise

 

[Han Trinh]

IMO the word “grail” has a tendency to get watered down. Isn’t it most important to you to just put together what truly makes you happy?

Respect. ^^^

I’ve owned large grail sets “ES cash, ESPT, ESST”. But had a shift in personal priorities and perspective during Covid.

I still love chipping, but at a phase where I don’t feel I need expensive grail sets to feel happy.

I’m building up HSI primary/secondary sets and already happy to the moon and back. Honestly great looking chips for a fantastic price point, especially the cash denoms. The higher denoms are nice but honestly less value for money.

 

[Hornet]

You're

Mike is at his government desk job as the grammar police? Oh, I forgot, he’s on paid leave again. Must be nice.

 

[Perthmike]

Mike is at his government desk job as the grammar police? Oh, I forgot, he’s on paid leave again. Must be nice.

Only two and a half weeks left of my 16 weeks leave

 

[Nanook]

Can someone explain to me why SBs are being posted with asking prices of $7-8/ chip? Is it just the same phenomenon that existed initially for the Boat chips before those sort of came down to earth? They’re ok looking chips I guess, some better than others. But modern THC so not leaded and imagine a paper inlay? I know someone will come on here and say supply and demand, but I personally just don’t get it.

Because some "not so smart" people (in my opinion) are willing to buy at those prices.

Of course it’s supply and demand, but I guess your question is why is demand so high? I’m thinking that there’s been a resurgence of poker and chip collecting recently. Couple that with current owners holding their chipsets, and it’s the perfect storm for high prices, especially fracs.

This is of course correct. Of course if people start paying $10/chip some others will start selling their stashes. Everything is for sale, it is just a matter of price. This reminds me of the old joke where the guy asks the beautiful girl if she will sleep with him for $1 and of course she replies "no, what do you think I am?" and then the guy asks if she would sleep with him for a million dollars and of course she says "well for that money I guess I would have to" guy responds with "now that we know what you are, we are just negotiating over price"
lol

I see so many chips, especially some of the recent rhc sales that I look at, and think I wouldn't even pay half that price.

I couldn't agree more.
of course I haven't been around for a while but prices I am seeing are just straight stupid. You all do know that Paulson's are made for considerably less than $1/chip, right?
ok, ok I get it... If I am a seller I am going to try and get as much as I can and if people are willing to pay $5 a chip for fantasy sets I am not selling for the $1/chip that I bought for either.

 

[Colquhoun]

I don’t think it’s the “not so smart” people paying those prices. The reason these folks are willing to drop the cash quickly on the higher prices is that there such an influx of others willing to do the same.
Is it mass stupidity? I don’t think so, just not enough chips for those want them.

 

[Nanook]

......
Is it mass stupidity?........

Yup

Have you read about the tulip mania in the 1630's. If not, read about it. Everyone should be aware of this phenomenon.

 

[The_dude]

This thread needs some pr0n

 

[upNdown]

why the demand?

Pros: cali, vibrant colors, thc, mint, inlay that has mass appeal, 5's are sick, 1s are under-appreciated, quarters 8v that can be relabeled to 5s.
Cons: inlay is not everyones cup o tea, price tag(supply/demand).

While I own cash AS, ES chips... the BTP and SBs hit the felt far more often and as a mixed set.

Cons - they're lightweight, unleaded chips, and they have those inlays that feel like cheapo stickers.

Listen, if you love those chips, good for you. They're better than 95% of the poker chips in existence, no doubt But I think a lot of people flip out over these, thinking THC's are THCs. But the truth is, they're not. I figured this out when I paid some guy to harvest me some Jerry's Nugget $1s. I used them for this small OFCP/headsup set for a short time. But as pretty as they looked, when I handled them and played with them, they felt like fake chips to me. Because compared to leaded Paulsons with textured inlays, they are kinda fakey. ANd believe me, I wanted to love them, but after handling them, I couldn't.
Yeah, those SB's are definitely worth more than the horseshoes and the Jacks, and everything else that the chiproom has sold recently. Which means (to me) that they're worth about $2.50-$3.00 per chip. People who pay more than that - hey, if you love them and you're happy, good for you.

 

[SpaceMonkey420]

these are still grail chips

Not even on the grail radar for me. In fact almost the exact opposite. To each his own though.

Now those claim stakes and burros. WOW!!!

 

[SpaceMonkey420]

You all do know that Paulson's are made for considerably less than $1/chip, right?

I have a Paulson brochure, and other tricks up my sleeve. Unfortunately your incorrect, if you would like to wager anything regarding current “Paulson” manufacturing prices I’m your huckleberry.

 

[Mitchell89]

Ah i have so much to learn. I just started assembling a set and the advice I was given was THC>other Paulson moulds. I hit the classifieds and have picked up some Aurora and Empress star chips and now I’m reading about leaded chips. Bollocks.

 

[The_dude]

Cons - they're lightweight, unleaded chips, and they have those inlays that feel like cheapo stickers.

Listen, if you love those chips, good for you. They're better than 95% of the poker chips in existence, no doubt But I think a lot of people flip out over these, thinking THC's are THCs. But the truth is, they're not. I figured this out when I paid some guy to harvest me some Jerry's Nugget $1s. I used them for this small OFCP/headsup set for a short time. But as pretty as they looked, when I handled them and played with them, they felt like fake chips to me. Because compared to leaded Paulsons with textured inlays, they are kinda fakey. ANd believe me, I wanted to love them, but after handling them, I couldn't.
Yeah, those SB's are definitely worth more than the horseshoes and the Jacks, and everything else that the chiproom has sold recently. Which means (to me) that they're worth about $2.50-$3.00 per chip. People who pay more than that - hey, if you love them and you're happy, good for you.
View attachment 601053

For me the SBs check all MY boxes: vibrant Cali colors, complex spot patterns, unleaded, playable quantities of mint chips available without too much effort while still being rare enough to maintain their value.
They are f—king fun to play poker with

 

[Eriks]

Ah i have so much to learn. I just started assembling a set and the advice I was given was THC>other Paulson moulds. I hit the classifieds and have picked up some Aurora and Empress star chips and now I’m reading about leaded chips. Bollocks.

Rookie mistake, but don’t feel too bad. Send em to me and I’ll make sure they’re properly discarded

 

[OfficerLovejoy]

I have a Paulson brochure and contact at GPI. Unfortunately your incorrect, if you would like to wager anything regarding current “Paulson” manufacturing prices I’m your huckleberry.

Well, what are the prices then? I genuinely am curious.
Not enough to do any wagering, though.

 

[SpaceMonkey420]

Well, what are the prices then? I genuinely am curious.
Not enough to do any wagering, though.

Let’s ask @Nanook first. lol

 

[FlushBlack]

My No.1 tick for my sets to be from an actual Casino or licenced playroom and leaded. Why, because, they’ve been around and in my silly way of thought they’ve got streetwise feel n smell about them.
My 1st set was Noirs, as nice as they are they’re always on the bench on home games, no comparison in feel and sound to either Trop hotstamp set or the Ritz
These here chips would’ve beven a defo for me if they‘d have hit my catagories.

 

[SpaceMonkey420]

My No.1 tick for my sets to be from an actual Casino or licenced playroom and leaded. Why, because, they’ve been around and in my silly way of thought they’ve got streetwise feel n smell about them.
My 1st set was Noirs, as nice as they are they’re always on the bench on home games, no comparison in feel and sound to either Trop hotstamp set or the Ritz
These here chips would be a defo for me if they hit my catagories.

I agree 100%.

 

[RainmanTrail]

These discussions always crack me up. I don't get why supply and demand concepts are so difficult for so many people to wrap their heads around. People keep coming up with these conspiracy theories like "fear of missing out", "price fixing by the insiders", "flippers", "it's all because we allow auctions", or "it's all @Windwalker's fault", and before him it was "all @Changster's fault".

It's pretty simple. Some of you are just overthinking it. The primary factors in any collectibles hobby are disposable income levels, the population size of interested parties, and the number of those collectibles available to the market. Each of these factors can be influenced in different ways, causing them to increase or decrease at any time.

Currently, despite numerous economic indicators otherwise showing a bad economy as a whole, the average person in the US has more disposable income than ever before (Planet Money recently had a podcast episode dedicated to this fact). The distribution is very polarized though. We are very much in an era of the haves and the have-nots. But those who have, on average, have considerably more disposable income than ever before. There are numerous contributing factors to why this is true (people spending less because of covid, economic "stimulus" packages, a juiced up/inflated US dollar, a strong stock market, bitcoin going to the moon, etc).

In the current covid era, a lot of people are staying home, looking for things to do. Millions of people are exploring new hobbies as they find themselves with more time on their hands. Hundreds (thousands?) of these people have found their way into this community. We've had an explosion of new members, it seems.

Meanwhile, the supply side of high level chips hasn't gone up at all recently. The last Paulson buy that I know of to hit our market was the Sunset Beach chips, and there weren't very many of those to begin with (only about 30,000 if I recall correctly). A lot has happened since then.

It's not just our hobby though. These factors are influencing every hobby. Even baseball card prices are blowing up. Even steroid using players banned from the HOF like Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds have seen their prices double and triple in value over the past 6 months.

It really is as simple as that. People have more money than they did before. More and more people are finding their way here. And new epic chip sets aren't able to meet the increased demand. So, buyers increase the amounts they're willing to pay for the sets that they want, and if those prices are deemed high enough to the potential sellers, then chips will change hands. At higher prices than before. There's also nothing we can do to prevent these price increases. A lot of the old time chippers here get pissy when they see chip prices increasing, calling names, bashing sellers, increasing their "do not sell to" lists, etc. But it's all futile. The market is what it is, and it's entirely driven by supply and demand.

 

[JeepologyOffroad]

Completely agree Travis. Supply is extremely low compared to even a year ago. Everyone fighting for scraps.

 

[RainmanTrail]

It comes down to supply and demand as others have posted. Not too many of them changing hands publicly or privately. Like the inlay design or not, these are THC molded Paulsons in awesome colors and spot patterns. If you have one or two that are willing to pay well above what's perceived to be market value at that time, market value for the chips in itself increases as a result.

To go off tangent a bit, I agree with @Eriks . BCC chips are criminally underrated and the nice and/or rare BCC sets should be going for as much money per chip as their Paulson counterparts. Anything below that and I'm a buyer rather than seller for these "grail" BCC sets.

I'm going to have to disagree with you there. The vast majority of BCC sets have significant quality issues. A prime example is the GCOP set. That's one of the highest demand BCC sets, but once you see them in person and compare them to the ESPT WSOP tribute set, they fall way, way short. The inlays are often in the shape of an ellipse, the surfaces are often fibrous or porous, and the edge spots can be fairly inconsistent. Modern CPC sets are leagues better than most BCCs. That said, there are a few sets out there where BCC knocked it out of the park, but not many. The webmold Riverboat set was one, and the Lucky Lady Club customs was another. But by and large, BCC chips suck pretty bad. They're well below TRK, Paulson, CPC, Abbiati, Bud Jones, and Matsui, with only a few exceptions IMO.

 

[cpac54]

If you really want a great set of PAULSON CHIPS, build yourself a set of WTHCs at about $4 per chip and forget about the NAGB chips.
I don’t own ANY of the NAGB sets and I don’t lose a moments rest over it.
Hope this eases your mind.

Other than the fact that they have shaped inlays, I honestly don’t get the love for the WTHC chips. They just don’t do anything for me.

But, that’s why this hobby is great. Everyone has their preferences, and no one person is “right” or “wrong”. It’d be a pretty boring place if we all agreed on everything!

 

[RainmanTrail]

Yup

Have you read about the tulip mania in the 1630's. If not, read about it. Everyone should be aware of this phenomenon.

The tulip mania has no equivalence whatsoever to this market.

 

[Eriks]

I'm going to have to disagree with you there. The vast majority of BCC sets have significant quality issues. A prime example is the GCOP set. That's one of the highest demand BCC sets, but once you see them in person and compare them to the ESPT WSOP tribute set, they fall way, way short. The inlays are often in the shape of an ellipse, the surfaces are often fibrous or porous, and the edge spots can be fairly inconsistent. Modern CPC sets are leagues better than most BCCs. That said, there are a few sets out there where BCC knocked it out of the park, but not many. The webmold Riverboat set was one, and the Lucky Lady Club customs was another. But by and large, BCC chips suck pretty bad. They're well below TRK, Paulson, CPC, Abbiati, Bud Jones, and Matsui, with only a few exceptions IMO.

Can’t deny the QC issues, although in my experience it’s only a few chips here and there, but there’s something about shuffling buttery BCCs. Below Paulsons? Barely imo. Below trk? I’m sure. I haven’t dared wander down that road yet. Below Matsui et al? Hell no! Fuck, I may be a sucker but I still love BCC

 

[johnjohn]

 

[BGinGA]

The vast majority of BCC sets have significant quality issues. A prime example is the GCOP set. That's one of the highest demand BCC sets, but once you see them in person and compare them to the ESPT WSOP tribute set, they fall way, way short. The inlays are often in the shape of an ellipse, the surfaces are often fibrous or porous, and the edge spots can be fairly inconsistent.

No ellipse inlays in my GCOP set, fwiw. A few T1000 spinners, and most of the T25 chips have the typical green BCC chip hazy look (minimized if oiled). But overall, I'd consider it one of the better BCC sets out there, based on my 2,600+ examples.

 

[Tommy]

@BonScot inspired.