Paulson Color Samples... a Chronology (2 Viewers)

[sleepypiggly]

I've been looking through my Paulson color sample sets that I've collected over the years and noted the progression of new colors being added. Here I am attempting to lay out the timeline of Paulson color sample sets as they were available "back in the day," with the help of our community.

Thank you @gmunny @Jeff in Iowa for your extensive contributions to this chronology.

88 Chip Color Sample Set, Small Hot Stamp, SCV Mold (2014 - now)
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/resources/paulson-chip-color-reference.2/
- 5 added colors from the (2007-2014) 83 color sample set, noted below in bold:
Avocado, Carnation, Light Violet, Pastel Green, and Rubine Red
- note that Royal Blue had long since been discontinued (before 2003/2004)

Almond	Apricot	Aqua	Arc Yellow	Avocado	Bahama Blue	Beige	Black
Blaze Orange	Blood Red	Blue Grain	Blurple	Bronze	Butterscotch	Canary Yellow	Carnation
Carrot	Charcoal	Cherry	Chocolate	Coffee	Colon Orange	Daisy	Dark Blue
Dark Brown	Dark Green	Dark Red	Day Blue	Day Green	Desert FLower	Dolphin Blue	Forest Green
Fuschia	Gold	Grape	Grey	Hawaii Flower	Horizon Blue	Hot Pink	Ice Blue
Indian Blue	Lavender	Lemon Green	Light Blue	Light Pink	Light Violet	Lilac	Lime Green
Maroon	Mauve	Melon	Metallic Gold	Metallic Silver	Mexian Rose	Mint Green	Moss Green
Munzell Green	Mustard	Navy Blue	Ocean Blue	Off White	Orange	Orchid	Pale Green
Pastel Green	Peach	Petunia	Pink	Plum	Pumpkin	Purple	Radiant Red
Red	Rose	Royal Red	Rubine Red	Russet	Salmon	Sea Green	Sherbert Green
Sherbet Orange	Showboat Grey	Sky Blue	Sunrise	Tan	Watermelon	White	Yellow

83 Chip Color Sample Set, Small Hot Stamp, SCV Mold (2009 - 2014)
- 6 added colors from the (2004-2007) 77 color sample set, noted below in bold:
Blood Red, Blue Grain, Dark Red, Mexican Rose, Pale Green, and Pumpkin.

Almond	Apricot	Aqua	Arc Yellow	Bahama Blue	Beige	Black	Blaze Orange
Blood Red	Blue Grain	Blurple	Bronze	Butterscotch	Canary Yellow	Carrot	Charcoal
Cherry	Chocolate	Coffee	Colon Orange	Daisy	Dark Blue	Dark Brown	Dark Green
Dark Red	Day Blue	Day Green	Desert Flower	Dolphin Blue	Forest Green	Fuschia	Gold
Grape	Grey	Hawaii Flower	Horizon Blue	Hot Pink	Ice Blue	Indian Blue	Lavender
Lemon Green	Light Blue	Light Pink	Lilac	Lime Green	Maroon	Mauve	Melon
Metallic Gold	Metallic Silver	Mexican Rose	Mint Green	Moss Green	Munzell Green	Mustard	Navy Blue
Ocean Blue	Off White	Orange	Orchid	Pale Green	Peach	Petunia	Pink
Plum	Pumpkin	Purple	Radiant Red	Red	Rose	Royal Red	Russet
Salmon	Sea Green	Sherbert Green	Sherbet Orange	Showboat Grey	Sky Blue	Sunrise	Tan
Watermelon	White	Yellow

77 Chip Color Sample Set, Large Hot Stamp, SCV Mold + RHC Mold (2004 - 2009)
- 13 added colors from the (1985-2003) 64 color sample set, noted below in bold:
Aqua, Carrot, Cherry, Coffee, Desert Flower, Grape, Ice Blue, Lemon Green, Light Pink, Melon, Navy Blue, Ocean Blue, Tan
- in 2007, due to a Chipco campaign over lead in Paulson chips, Paulson finally transitioned all chips to unleaded. Most colors by this time are already unleaded, but there were 6 holdouts (Blurple, Day Green, Fuschia, Indian Blue, Metallic Gold, Metallic Silver). The salesman color sample set in late 2007 had 6 colors on the RHC mold - they took the 6 leaded colors out of existing sample sets and replaced them with the new unleaded colors.

Almond	Apricot	Aqua	Arc Yellow	Bahama Blue	Beige	Black	Blaze Orange
Blurple	Bronze	Butterscotch	Canary Yellow	Carrot	Charcoal	Cherry	Chocolate
Coffee	Colon Orange	Daisy	Dark Blue	Dark Brown	Dark Green	Day Blue	Day Green
Desert Flower	Dolphin Blue	Forest Green	Fuschia	Gold	Grape	Grey	Hawaii Flower
Horizon Blue	Hot Pink	Ice Blue	Indian Blue	Lavender	Lemon Green	Light Blue	Light Pink
Lilac	Lime Green	Maroon	Mauve	Melon	Metallic Gold	Metallic Silver	Mint Green
Moss Green	Munzell Green	Mustard	Navy Blue	Ocean Blue	Off White	Orange	Orchid
Peach	Petunia	Pink	Plum	Purple	Radiant Red	Red	Rose
Royal Red	Russet	Salmon	Sea Green	Sherbert Green	Sherbet Orange	Showboat Grey	Sky Blue
Sunrise	Tan	Watermelon	White	Yellow

64/65 Chip Color Sample Set, Large Hot Stamp, SCV Mold (2002 - 2004)
- 5 added colors from the (1985-2002) 60 color sample set, noted below in bold:
Beige, Bronze, Butterscotch, Metalic Silver (sic), Rusett (sic)
- this is the last color sample set that you were able to get directly from Paulson (when they sold to the home market). I don't believe it was not a menu item, but you can ask for it.
- note: misspelled "Bronce," "Rusett," "Metalic Silver" (even though they corrected "Metallic Gold" )

Almond	Apricot	Arc Yellow	Bahama Blue	Beige	Black	Blurple	Bronce
Butterscotch	Canary Yellow	Charcoal	Chocolate	Colon Orange	Daisy	Dark Blue	Dark Brown
Dark Green	Day Blue	Day Green	Dolphin Blue	Blaze Orange	Forest Green	Fuschia	Gold
Grey	Hawaii Flower	Horizon Blue	Hot Pink	Indian Blue	Lavender	Light Blue	Lilac
Lime Green	Maroon	Mauve	Metallic Gold	Metalic Silver¹	Mint Green	Moss Green	Munzell Green
Mustard	Off White	Orange	Orchid	Peach	Petunia	Pink	Plum
Purple	Radiant Red	Red	Rose	Royal Blue²	Royal Red	Rusett	Salmon
Sea Green	Sherbert Green	Sherbet Orange	Showboat Grey	Sky Blue	Sunrise	Watermelon	White
Yellow

¹ Metallic Silver (initially named Silver Cronal)
² Royal Blue discontinued before 2003/2004

60 Chip Color Sample Set, Large Hot Stamp, SCV Mold (1985 - 2002)
- 16 added colors from the (1983-1985) 44 color sample set, noted below in bold:
Almond, Apricot, Bahama Blue, Canary Yellow, Daisy, Dark Brown, Dolphin Blue, Hawaii Flower, Munzell Green, Orchid, Petunia, Plum, Rose, Sea Green, Sherbet Orange, Sunrise.

Almond	Apricot	Arc Yellow	Bahama Blue	Black	Blurple	Canary Yellow	Charcoal
Chocolate	Colon Orange	Daisy	Dark Blue	Dark Brown	Dark Green	Day Blue	Day Green
Dolphin Blue	Blaze Orange	Forest Green	Fuschia	Gold	Grey	Hawaii Flower	Horizon Blue
Hot Pink	Indian Blue	Lavender	Light Blue	Lilac	Lime Green	Maroon	Mauve
Metallic Gold	Mint Green	Moss Green	Munzell Green	Mustard	Off White	Orange	Orchid
Peach	Petunia	Pink	Plum	Purple	Radiant Red	Red	Rose
Royal Blue	Royal Red	Salmon	Sea Green	Sherbert Green	Sherbet Orange	Showboat Grey	Sky Blue
Sunrise	Watermelon	White	Yellow

photo credit: gmunny


43/44 Chip Color Sample Set, Paulson Dice & Card Co. Stamp, Large/Small Hot Stamps, SCV Mold (pre - 1985)
- 23 added colors from the (1970s era ) 21color sample set, noted below in bold:
Arc Yellow, Blurpie, Charcoal, Colon Orange, Forest Green, Horizon Blue, Indian Blue, Lavender, Lilac, Lime Green, Mauve, Metalic Gold, Mint Green, Moss Green, Mustard, Radiant Red, Royal Blue, Royal Red, Salmon, Sherbet Green, Showboat Grey, Sky Blue, Watermelon
- chip with color name on one side, Paul-Son Dice & Card name on the other side.
- these came in drilled and later non-drilled versions, with inconsistently sized stamps (depending on the number of letters in color)
- changed name from FIRE ORANGE to BLAZE ORANGE
- difference b/w 43 and 44 chip version is the added "Metalic Gold" (sic)

Arc Yellow	Black	Blurple	Fire Orange / Blaze Orange	Charcoal	Chocolate	Colon Orange	Dark Blue
Dark Green	Day Blue	Day Green	Forest Green	Fuschsia	Gold	Grey	Horizon Blue
Hot Pink	Indian Blue	Lavender	Light Blue	Lilac	Lime Green	Maroon	Mauve
Metalic Gold	Mint Green	Moss Green	Mustard	Off White	Orange	Peach	Pink
Purple	Radiant Red	Red	Royal Blue	Royal Red	Salmon	Sherbet Green	Showboat Grey
Sky Blue	Watermelon	White	Yellow

Note: incomplete set shown above, missing "Forest Green," "Radiant Red," and "Yellow"

photo credit: gmunny

photo credit: gmunny

21 Chip Color Sample Set, Large/Small Hot Stamps, SCV Mold (1964 - ???)
- the ad below appeared in the Reno Gazette Journal (1/28/1977) and shows 21 available colors. Paulson first began producing chips on the Hat & Cane mold since 1964.
- note that during this time, Paulson sold chips to the general public, and could have withheld some colors that were only available to casinos.

Black	Chocolate	Dark Blue (Navy)	Dark Green	Dayglo Blue (Turquoise)	Dayglo Green (Lime)	Fire Orange	Fuscia
Gold	Grey	Hot Pink	Light Blue	Maroon	Off White	Orange	Peach
Pink	Purple	Red	White	Yellow

(???) Chip Color Sample Set, Large/Small Hot Stamps, Plain Mold (1983 - ???)
- unknown dates, but these have the original founding company logo "Paul-Son Gaming Supplies."

(???) Chip Color Sample Set, Black Print, Rounded Roulette (Date ???)
- unknown dates, but these have the original founding company logo "Paul-Son Gaming Supplies."
- these chips were also made without color names.

Other Color Samples (No Color Names)

45 Chip Color Sample Set, Paulson Logo Only, No Color Names, RHC mold (Date ???)
- unknown dates, but these have the "Paul-Son Gaming Supplies" logo that dates after the "Paul-Son Dice & Card Company."

? Paulson Hot Stamp Solids, No Color Names, SCV Mold, (Date ???)

Oh, and thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

 

[HaRDHouSeiNC]

Did you collect the red edge spot samples too? I’m missing a few

 

[HaRDHouSeiNC]

These are also my three personal favorites since they are such unicorns.
I’m curious if they were ever really a color name for Xom and Zue or just randomness

 

[sleepypiggly]

Did you collect the red edge spot samples too? I’m missing a few

I have like a case full of red edge spot samples. Lots of repeats but not complete. I think @David O has a complete set.

 

[sleepypiggly]

These are also my three personal favorites since they are such unicorns.
I’m curious if they were ever really a color name for Xom and Zue or just randomness
View attachment 764745View attachment 764746View attachment 764747

The XOM and ZUE are probably just initials.

I think "Silver Cronal" is a real color, and was the equivalent of Metallic Silver or a version of it before Metallic Silver.
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/paulson-84-chip-color-sample-set.3093/post-74253

 

[HaRDHouSeiNC]

The XOM and ZUE are probably just initials.

I think "Silver Cronal" is a real color, and was the equivalent of Metallic Silver or a version of it before Metallic Silver.
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/paulson-84-chip-color-sample-set.3093/post-74253

That was my guess for cronal and they also had a SILVER

 

[David O]

I have like a case full of red edge spot samples. Lots of repeats but not complete. I think @David O has a complete set.

Yes I have a complete set of all four inlay sizes. @sleepypiggly i Amy need to see if you have some with sharp edges. I need to trade out some that are not sharp.

Paulson Edge Spot Sample set

• David O
• May 9, 2021

Full 128 piece Paulson Edge Spot Sample set

 

[JesterTX]

Missing some myself.


Thread 'Missing Paulson Color Samples'
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/missing-paulson-color-samples.76240/

 

[sleepypiggly]

Missing some myself.


Thread 'Missing Paulson Color Samples'
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/missing-paulson-color-samples.76240/

Yea I saw that list, unfortunately with all my extras I don't have your colors.

 

[JesterTX]

Yea I saw that list, unfortunately with all my extras I don't have your colors.

Thanks!

 

[AlbinoDragon]

What a great resource! Thanks for posting your work for the rest of us. I'm going to have to double check and see which era my set is from, but I'm pretty sure it's the 88 chip 2014-present version.

Well done!

 

[allforcharity]

Somewhere I can hear an Inbox exploding....

 

[ReallyGoodUsername]

Somewhere I can hear an Inbox exploding....

I’m sure that wasn’t intentional

 

[David O]

I've been looking through my Paulson color sample sets that I've collected over the years and saw some progression of colors being added. Posting so people can get some idea of what were actually complete sets "back in the day."

The 3 Paulson color sample sets were "complete" as I've acquired them, and then later more colors were added.

I'm also trying to piece together the entire chronology with timeline (see below) and hoping that others here with more knowledge can help me finish it.

3 "full color sample sets" (red/white spotted chips represent the added colors over time)
- colors are in alphabetical order as per PCF's guide from bottom left, with the 5 new colors at the end
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/resources/paulson-chip-color-reference.2/
View attachment 764691

88 Chip Color Sample Set, Small Hot Stamp (2014-now)
- missing the long-discontinued Royal Blue
View attachment 764695

83 Chip Color Sample Set, Small Hot Stamp (??? - 2014)
- missing Avocado, Carnation, Light Violet, Pastel Green, Rubine Red, and Royal Blue
View attachment 764696

77 Chip Color Sample Set, Small Hot Stamp (??? - ???)
- missing Avocado, Carnation, Light Violet, Pastel Green, Rubine Red, Pale Green, Blue Grain, Mexican Rose, Dark Red, Blood Red, Pumpkin, Royal Blue
View attachment 764698

??? Chip Color Sample Set, Large Hot Stamp (??? - ???)
- not sure how many in this set (before my time) and I never finished assembling the whole set
- the since-discontinued Royal Blue is part of this set (discontinued b/c the color has a habit of running all over other chips, especially white)
View attachment 764727

??? Chip Color Sample Set, Large Hot Stamp, Paul-Son Hot Stamp (??? - ???)
- I only have one chip that has color name on one side, Paul-Son hot stamp on the other side. There must be a full set somewhere

View attachment 764733

View attachment 764734

Oh, and thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

I have an 89 chips set and I also have a partial set with Paul-son hot stamp on the other side. I would love to know how many were in that set. I feel I have close to a complete set but I do not know how many where in that sample set. Anyone have an idea? I also need to see if I have Dark Brown!!!

 

[sleepypiggly]

Somewhere I can hear an Inbox exploding....

Yikes... no kidding.

 

[sleepypiggly]

I also need to see if I have Dark Brown!!!

It's yours if you don't have. What am I gonna do w/ just one?

 

[David O]

It's yours if you don't have. What am I gonna do w/ just one?

I just checked and I do need it! LOL

 

[David O]

Here is a pic of my color sample and my smaller Paul-son color sampleset. My favorite by far was the spot sample set which took me a long time to get all 128. There is a unicorn amongst those chips. From what I understand is many of the single collectors are looking for that one chip. I lucked out by asking for it here and a good chipper sent it to me!

 

[sleepypiggly]

Oh which chip is the unicorn?

And who besides HaRDHoSeiNC and cpiaaq are collecting these?

 

[David O]

Oh which chip is the unicorn?

And who besides HaRDHoSeiNC and cpiaaq are collecting these?

PM sent

 

[sleepypiggly]

Updated the original post with new (old) info I dug out from past email conversations with collectors.

So the order from most recent is 88-chip sample set, 77, 78, 64, and 45 somewhere in between.

 

[AlbinoDragon]

With the updates, this thread keeps getting better and better. I hope this gets stickied or linked to the resources pages!


Finally checked my set and it's the 78 chip set, with the elusive Royal Blue. I paid $190 for it on eBay back in August of 2013 (as a reference).

 

[moose]

Oh which chip is the unicorn?

And who besides HaRDHoSeiNC and cpiaaq are collecting these?

I have some. I don't really care to have all the inlay sizes. I just wanted one of every spot pattern (not complete). No idea if I have the unicorn chip (not sure why its a secret but maybe I could get a pm too) but I do have Royal Blue.

 

[David O]

I have some. I don't really care to have all the inlay sizes. I just wanted one of every spot pattern (not complete). No idea if I have the unicorn chip (not sure why its a secret but maybe I could get a pm too) but I do have Royal Blue.

View attachment 767034

Not really a secret so no pm necessary. I called it a unicorn because I know several that were looking for the exact chip I was missing. I lucked into it but who knows, someone may have a rack of them although the single collectors didn't have one.

The chip I considered a unicorn is Style #32 - 6D18 standard over sized inlay (15/16").

I wish I knew you needed some. I sold off every extra I had when I finished my collection.

 

[David O]

I may need to get some more sample sets together. One I think I will start looking for is the roulette mold sample set.

I wonder if there have been any G2E chips over the last year? I need to find out when they started the yearly G2E chips. I have 2010 through 2019. I wonder if I am missing any.

Darn Guo! You are making want to start searching for chips again. For over the last year and a half I had reached a point where I was satisfied with my collection. Now I am looking at the Paulson and there manufacturing chips that I have and thinking I may need to expand! I have even broken out the 4 puzzle sets I have to see what I need to complete those.

 

[moose]

Not really a secret so no pm necessary. I called it a unicorn because I know several that were looking for the exact chip I was missing. I lucked into it but who knows, someone may have a rack of them although the single collectors didn't have one.

The chip I considered a unicorn is Style #32 - 6D18 standard over sized inlay (15/16").

I wish I knew you needed some. I sold off every extra I had when I finished my collection.

No worries. They went to someone who wanted them.

Looks like I have 6D18 on Grand.

 

[sleepypiggly]

unicorn is Style #32 - 6D18 standard over sized inlay (15/16")

What @David O didn't realize was that he traded me the unicorn by mistake. Mwahahahahahahaa.

Just kidding.

Or... am I?

 

[David O]

If I did it was a few years ago and I would be good with that my friend! So glad to see you active on here again.

 

[gmunny]

Oh which chip is the unicorn?

And who besides HaRDHoSeiNC and cpiaaq are collecting these?

I'm collecting them but not really looking that hard

 

[gmunny]

Are we sure the font size aligns with an exact time period? Though i tend to think the small fonts are newer, I have this ad that has both medium and large fonts. And a Royal blue with a medium font, which i never noticed before.