School me on THC chips for a set (10 Viewers)

So this leaded THC vs not leaded THC discussion has me really curious. As someone very new to collecting Paulson chips, is there a definitive source to tell which is which. I'm assembling my first THC set now. Based on the prices I've paid, I assume everything I have is not leaded, but how do I know for sure?

Same with buying and selling chips. I've seen sellers asked in their ads and responding that they don't know. Then someone will chime in. But how to know if they are right or not? Is there a specific weight per chip that tells you it's leaded, or not?
Different colors have different weights. Non leaded pink for example is pretty heavy compared to most leaded greens. I don’t think there’s a hard and fast rule but once you know you know
 
So this leaded THC vs not leaded THC discussion has me really curious. As someone very new to collecting Paulson chips, is there a definitive source to tell which is which. I'm assembling my first THC set now. Based on the prices I've paid, I assume everything I have is not leaded, but how do I know for sure?

Same with buying and selling chips. I've seen sellers asked in their ads and responding that they don't know. Then someone will chime in. But how to know if they are right or not? Is there a specific weight per chip that tells you it's leaded, or not?

I have been wondering the same thing. Does anybody know if there is a certain timeframe/era when all Paulson's produced where leaded? Or is it similar to todays chips where we have different Paulson molds/options.

I picked these Silver Star fracs up off the classified's on Monday. I am hoping they are leaded. Anybody know if they are?
SilverStarFracs.jpeg
 
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I have been wondering the same thing. Does anybody know if there is a certain timeframe/era when all Paulson's produced where leaded? Or is it similar to todays chips where we have different Paulson molds/options.

I picked these Silver Star fracs up off the classified's on Monday. I am hoping they are leaded. Anybody know if they are?
Yes they are
 
So this leaded THC vs not leaded THC discussion has me really curious. As someone very new to collecting Paulson chips, is there a definitive source to tell which is which. I'm assembling my first THC set now. Based on the prices I've paid, I assume everything I have is not leaded, but how do I know for sure?

Same with buying and selling chips. I've seen sellers asked in their ads and responding that they don't know. Then someone will chime in. But how to know if they are right or not? Is there a specific weight per chip that tells you it's leaded, or not?
Not really. There are exact approximate dates posted somewhere, but my rule of thumb is if they’re Paulsons made between 1979 and 1994, they’re leaded. But our best resource, Chipguide.com is kind of useless in terms of dates. They’ll tell you when the place opened and closed, and usually those dates are accurate, but rarely will you find dates regarding when a particular chip was issued.
Another thing to look for is textured and or shaped inlays. This isn’t a hard and fast rule, because they phased the lead out of chips over several years, and those inlay features were phased out around that time.
And generally, leaded chips will weight 1.5-2 grams more than their unleaded counterparts. But because there’s no weight consistency across colors, again, it’s hard to tell, just by weight.
 
I have been wondering the same thing. Does anybody know if there is a certain timeframe/era when all Paulson's produced where leaded? Or is it similar to todays chips where we have different Paulson molds/options.

I picked these Silver Star fracs up off the classified's on Monday. I am hoping they are leaded. Anybody know if they are?View attachment 745867
I don’t know if they are. If @JeepologyOffroad is sure, that’s your answer. But according to Chipguide, this casino opened and closed in 1978. So these could have been produced as early as 1977? I’m not sure when Paulson started producing their own chips, with leaded clay, but I know it was late 70’s. @BGinGA might have some intel there. But the fact that Chipguide shows some chips for that casino on non-Paulson molds would give me pause.
 
Hi all,
Although I’ve learned so much since joining I still feel like I have a lot to learn. When I caught chip fever I didn’t really know much about various Paulson molds and my first few Paulsons I acquired was a couple hundred Grand Victoria’s. I’ve since built out the set to a wonderful 1,000 piece set.

Then I saw the Jack Cincinnati $100 secondary chip and for some reason I loved it so much I felt I had to build a set around it. Also, my sons name is Jackson, my grandfathers name is Jack and I’m from Ohio originally so it’s only proper. I’ve since built a pretty large cash and tournament set.

All while doing this I’ve read about the THC mold and how desirable they are. Although I really love the sets I’ve built I wouldn’t mind changing focus to acquiring a smaller but nice THC set. The problem is I don’t know where to start.

Here’s what I’ve learned I like/dislike:

-I like authentic casino chips opposed to fantasy sets.
-I like colorful chips with unique spot patterns
-I don’t like hot stamps.
-I would prefer to stick to something where there’s a reasonable chance of acquiring enough chips. I already got stuck on another project and with my lack of patience I threw in the towel opposed to waiting for the off chance they come for sale.

so I guess what I’m asking is what would be the best options? What should I expect to pay on average?

thanks!

josh
With all this talk of leaded, FWIW, non-leaded THC chips are still fantastic and, if you're after authentic casino chips, a Vegas harvesting session might be your best bet with regards to building a set. Are you after a cash or tournament set, out of interest?

Just out of curiosity, do leaded 43 mm chips exist? Looking for a 43 mm candidate for a 1k chip to complete my FLV set.

Yes. Yes they do.

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I own a set myself. From 1978 I think
OK, I'm sorry, but I'm going to be extremely nitty here. I figured that you had probably owned them, but that still doesn't tell me how you know they are leaded. So just by the date they were produced? I have some Town Tavern $5s. ChipGuide says they were produced in 1981. Is that enough to know they are leaded? They are currently just 9.6 grams, but they've been milled, so I suppose they were closer to 10 grams before milling.

I also have some hot stamps that did not come from a casino, so nothing to look up on ChipGuide. They weigh about 9.8 grams and have not been milled yet. They are sky blue with lime edge spots. The same three wide spots as the TT $5s. How can I tell if they are leaded or not?

Then there are my Jack Cinci $1s weighing in at about 9.6 grams that I assume are clearly not leaded. Is there some difference between leaded and not leaded when handling them that I should be able to pick up on?
 
From the thread @upNdown posted above:
Anyway, I think most of us know the lead situation with Paulsons. From their official statement back in '07:

- pre '98 most colors were 47% lead (lol...)
- '98-'06 most colors were >1% lead.. except for 7 colors which were still the old 47%
- post '06 basically zero lead
...
Officially, the colors that still had 47% lead between '98-'05 were:

- Blurple, Day green, Fuschia, Indian Blue, Metallic Gold, Metallic Silver
 
This thread has been very interesting and informative. I want to thank all of you veteran chippers for the information. On another note....it would be really cool to get a thread or list going where people can confirm if a chip is leaded or not and keep track of them all.

At this point I am still researching what chips I would like in the THC mixed set I am working on. I still need $5's, $25's, and $100's. I would also need different $1's if going leaded. At this point (since I guess I now have leaded fracs) I am now wondering if I should focus on the direction of a THC leaded set. Could be pretty cool.
 
OK, I'm sorry, but I'm going to be extremely nitty here. I figured that you had probably owned them, but that still doesn't tell me how you know they are leaded. So just by the date they were produced? I have some Town Tavern $5s. ChipGuide says they were produced in 1981. Is that enough to know they are leaded? They are currently just 9.6 grams, but they've been milled, so I suppose they were closer to 10 grams before milling.

I also have some hot stamps that did not come from a casino, so nothing to look up on ChipGuide. They weigh about 9.8 grams and have not been milled yet. They are sky blue with lime edge spots. The same three wide spots and the TT $5s. How can I tell if they are leaded or not?

Then there are my Jack Cinci $1s weighing in at about 9.6 grams that I assume are clearly not leaded. Is there some difference between leaded and not leaded when handling them that I should be able to pick up on?
To me it’s not even the weight. Yeah sure if a chip is noticeably heavy and just has that vintage look then chances are it’s leaded. For me though it’s the feel. Give me a small stack to touch and I can tell you if they are leaded immediately. I suppose that just comes from handling a lot of different chips.

There’s also just some intangible quality looking at chips too. Can’t quite put my finger on it, but just the look of a lot of chips you can guess with a pretty high certainty. Spot patterns and colors too. Some spot patterns weren’t used in the old leaded chips. And some colors, like radiant red, were slightly different in shade as well
 
With all this talk of leaded, FWIW, non-leaded THC chips are still fantastic and, if you're after authentic casino chips, a Vegas harvesting session might be your best bet with regards to building a set. Are you after a cash or tournament set, out of interest?



Yes. Yes they do.

View attachment 745892
View attachment 745893
Where do I get those???? Who has them?????
 
My first chips were Crystal Parks and RHC but I loved the feel of them. I was pumped after everyone was building up the THC mold. But leaded RHCs are IMO preferable to new THC chips. They just feel and sound better. I think that is part of the THC appeal over RHC for a lot of people is most newer chips are RHC mold and not leaded vs a lot of the popular THC chips being leaded. People complain that RHCs are more prone to fleabites, but I think this is much less of a problem when they are leaded.
 
Is it a stretch to say that all shaped, textured inlay chips are all leaded? I've been working under this assumption because I don't know of any that aren't.
 
Is it a stretch to say that all shaped, textured inlay chips are all leaded? I've been working under this assumption because I don't know of any that aren't.
Almost all shaped inlays are leaded I’m pretty sure. Except maybe stuff like Bally’s? I’ve never handled those so I don’t know. Curious if they just got grandfathered in with their shapes or how that happened
 
I had a couple racks of textured round inlay Discoveries 1s that I'm not positive if they were leaded or not. I was never quite sure. Not sure weight alone was enough to be certain in that case.
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From the thread @upNdown posted above:
And I think that information is good, but what people either don’t realize or often forget is that there’s a starting point sometime in the late ‘70s, which is why I tagged @BGinGA eatlier, because I think he knows the details.
Because there was that other company (I forget the name) that was making THCs before Paulson, and they weren’t leaded. And my understanding is that although Paulson bought the mold sometime in the ‘70s, they were still being produced by another manufacturer, for a couple of years, without lead.
This link is helpful but doesn’t say anything about lead http://www.antiquegamblingchips.com/molddesign_manmade.htm
 
And I think that information is good, but what people either don’t realize or often forget is that there’s a starting point sometime in the late ‘70s, which is why I tagged @BGinGA eatlier, because I think he knows the details.
Because there was that other company (I forget the name) that was making THCs before Paulson, and they weren’t leaded. And my understanding is that although Paulson bought the mold sometime in the ‘70s, they were still being produced by another manufacturer, for a couple of years, without lead.
This link is helpful but doesn’t say anything about lead http://www.antiquegamblingchips.com/molddesign_manmade.htm
C&J?
 

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