Starbursts (1 Viewer)

[Irish]

Is it me or does it seem like someone opened a secret vault and found a treasure trove of starbursts lately? Tons of them for sale on eBay in the past couple of months - from a barrel or two to racks to larger 600+ sets (one rack of greens went for $240 yesterday ). Some nice colors too, not just the common reds & whites. Anyone else notice this? Anyone here building up or adding onto a set?

 

[slisk250]

I might be building a set to mill and label...

 

[ChaosRock]

I noticed there has been a higher volume of Starburst for sale lately as well... Imo though, the answer is a bit simpler than a secret vault being found... It's that the price for those have gone up and some people believe it's the right time to sell them... Prices of Starbursts have gone from ~60¢ to $1+...

I have been purchasing solid SCV for a cash and a Tourney set for the past few months, nothing crazy, and I've seen this price spike for sure... I'm still a few racks shorts for some colors, but have other racks that I decided not to use... I wasn't buying only Starbursts though, bought SCV roulettes and SCV private hot stamps as well...

 

[fish72s]

What is the condition of the $1 / chip 'bursts?
The prices for them have always varied quite a bit. The mint, non-overstamped, ones have fetched $1+, $1.25 of even more in the past. But the good condition overstamps don't get half that (at least when I sell them

So who does milling these days? I wouldn't mind picking up a nice set of Paulsons or TRKs to mill.

 

[ChaosRock]

Agreed fish! Prices have always varied for those... They still do imo but at a higher average... Condition of the stamps vary as well but even racks where the stamps were just 'okay' went for more than a buck...

I know Gear is working/perfecting his milling process but he's not up and running yet... Milling has been tried basically by each person, no outsourcing that I know of yet...

 

[slisk250]

With the right router bit I can't imagine its a hard job, just time consuming. I've got a 1" bottom cleaning router bit from Lee Valley that should do it. I'm hand building a jig and will mount it to my drill press. Once everything is perfectly center I think I could do three barrels an hour. Plus blank chips are way more easy to smuggle into Saudi. Just put them in a kid board game box. Labels come on after. I have a bunch of E&C hotstamps that I want to do the same but I won't know if I can get it centered to the nearest micron to make it look right. Might need to source a 7/8th bit as Lee Valley only has 3/4 and 1 inch.

As for TRKs, I've got a few racks of KC NCV chips plus some blanks that I could mill to create a custom labeled set but I'm having a hard time with a decision to mill those. They are TRKs. I thought I would ask J5 or p5woody to make me a label for Mike's Casino (change two letters on the Mapes inlay)...then I saw a custom set on Jeff's chip site and a guy named Brett already did that. Don't feel like being a copycat but the idea is pretty good. What the hell, maybe I'll try it if I can get the labels designed and printed.

 

[fish72s]

Sorry for the thread jack. Maybe its worth starting a new thread?

I know there was a thread on CT a while back on milling chips. Someone, Gear maybe, had experimented and figured out lots of the tricks to do it right. It wasn't easy or quick but it worked. I just didn't know if anyone had started a 'service' to mill chips.

I wouldn't mill the KC TRKs. They are too nice. But every now and then there is a set for sale with someone's initials on them. I've seen them go for as little as 50c / chip. Chips like that would be perfect to mill and label.

 

[slisk250]

But every now and then there is a set for sale with someone's initials on them. I've seen them go for as little as 50c / chip. Chips like that would be perfect to mill and label.

Yup. They are less than Starburst for sure