Restoring old dehydrated chips (1 Viewer)

[Thestrategist]

Hi forum,

I recently took a risk on purchasing roughly 300 older chips probably from the 1950s (Atlantic Molding. Now Classic Poker Chip Co.) from the mold design I was able to trace to. If anyone have any advise if it is possible to restore and bring the chips back to life. Currently they appear to be old, discolorated, dehydrated, and need some tlc.

What is the best possible way to get the chips back to it’s near original state for possible relabeled and used?

*the bent chips are probably going to be discarded.

Here are the photo of some of the chips.

 

[Highli99]

I’d suggest searching threads on flattening warped chips and cleaning/oiling chips. Be very careful with ASM chips and do not use TSP or other harsh chemicals. I think most recommend dawn. Mineral oil is safe for oiling but google those threads because I haven’t done it myself. There are different methods to try and some get hella messy.

 

[AWenger]

*the bent chips are probably going to be discarded.

Not so fast. It is possible for warped chips to be flattened and salvaged!

Have you searched the threads for chip cleaning, oiling (mineral oil), flattening? I don't mean to give you the cold shoulder, but there's a lot of information in other threads already.

 

[allforcharity]

Definitely, flatten (if you can), clean, and oil. You won't recognize them afterward.

 

[jazzV3]

Very interested in seeing your results. I think I recall seeing these on eBay recently.

 

[Thestrategist]

Interesting. Okay I am aware of the who oiling of chips etc. But I wasnt sure due to its current condition, if cleaning and oiling the chips would bring them back to life. I will do some more research on this before I attempt the process and will post before and after photos of the outcome. Thank you everyone who contributed with advices and encouragement for this novice. Cheers!

 

[Thestrategist]

Very interested in seeing your results. I think I recall seeing these on eBay recently.

Yes, I took a shot at them for about $60 with the hopes of bringing them back to life but I am not sure if its even possible. There was only a few mins left on the auctions so I didnt have enough time to do any research so I took a shot in the dark at them. Hopefully theyll will turn out alright

 

[allforcharity]

Well, you beat my bid.

 

[AWenger]

I just came back to this thread and noticed your chips have hotstamps. Here's a recent thread about cleaning some other hotstamp chips:
How to manually clean (safely) hotstamped chips
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/how-to-manually-clean-safely-hotstamped-chips.38957/#post-721098

Some good tips in that thread, although the chips you got are older & dirtier overall, so you may need to adapt methods to your chips. Always start out with a test chip with any cleaning method. One tip for your set -- I always clean the chips first, before attempting to flatten warped chips.