Today is Black Friday (1 Viewer)

CrazyEddie

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Some pr0n and some questions.

I bought a small grab bag of chips on eBay, and now that they've arrived I've (happily) gotten more than I expected! First, a handful of Starbursts in black and grey:

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Next, some cancelled (?) RT Plastics:

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And then finally, the unexpected. The eBay listing called these "Bakelite" chips, which are usually vintage but completely uninteresting (and usually not even Bakelite). But it turns out these are actually Catalin chips - which are much more interesting. Catalin chips are marbled and translucent and, in my opinion, quite attractive. I have a modest collection of them. But they almost always come in three colors: butterscotch, red, and blue-ish/green-ish. The colors vary quite a bit from batch to batch and manufacturer to manufacturer; shade matching is pretty much a lost cause if you can't buy a complete set all at once. The blue/green chips vary in color, sometimes very blue, sometimes very green... but they're also very dark, so that if the light is shining on them rather than through them they can look almost black.

These chips, though, really are black. They're the blackest Catalin chips I've ever seen. Not a trace of blue or green about them. They have some yellow flecks and swirls that are just barely noticeable, which is how you can tell that they're Catalin (beside the shape) - they are distinctly marbled, but still very, very black.

Which is perfect. My Catalin set, like pretty much all of them, only has three colors, hence only three denominations. Now I can add a handful of hundos to it. :)

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On to the questions. First of all, can anyone tell me anything about this?

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I asked a similar question once before, but don't recall the answer and can't find the post. @ReallyGoodUsername asked a similar question here but there wasn't much discussion afterwards; maybe @72o could shed some further light. :)

Next question: Has anyone seen any more of these RT Plastics circular hotstamps, and/or can you tell me anything more about them? I'm assuming they're cancellation stamps. I think they're pretty cool, and I'm adding them to my collection and thinking of them as "Starburst Lite" chips. :)

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Thanks for following along, and please let me know if you've got any knowledge of or experience with these chips!
 
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I found a couple of other unusual Paulson hotstamps:

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/100-paulson-hot-stamped-poker-casino-chips

"100 Paulson Poker Chips in excellent condition. This set includes 90 $1 Hotstamped chips with CCC on the other side and 10 slighty darker colored horseshoe hotstamps on both sides. These were customed made years ago when Paulson was still in the home market. Great addition to your collection. Good luck and happy bidding!!!!"

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And then there's the "cherries" hotstamp, which you can find in a number of places:

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Would love to find out more about the "petal" hotstamp that I'm the proud new owner of, though. Maybe something will turn up.
 
Would love to find out more about the "petal" hotstamp that I'm the proud new owner of, though.
I'd guess it was either a standard roulette symbol stamp (unlikely) or made for somebody's personal set (most likely). If the latter, you'll likely never get confirmation.
 
If you like Bakelite/Catalin chips, there are zillions of them for sale on Etsy.com last time I looked.

My dim recollection (may want you check it) is that some versions may have had some nasty chemical ingredients. But unless you’re planning to snap them in half and gnaw on them, probably does not matter.
 
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If you like Bakelite/Catalin chips, there are zillions of them for sale on Etsy.com last time I looked.

My dim recollection (may want you check it) is that some versions may have had some nasty chemical ingredients. But unless you’re planning to snap them in half and gnaw on them, probably does not matter.
I don't know about Etsy, but most of the "bakelite" or "catalin" chips for sale on eBay are either crappy (really crappy) old clays or plastic.
 
Probably not Catalin; the process isn't amenable to it (I surmise). Catalin is made from the same chemical process as Bakelite, but the resulting resin is kept liquid rather than solidified. The resin is poured into casting molds and allowed to cool slowly, resulting in solid blocks, rods, sheets, etc. The bulk materials are then cut and tooled into the desired final shapes. So while colorants are added during the liquid stage, it's never mixed with other solids like abestos or other fibers the way that Bakelite often is.
 
If you like Bakelite/Catalin chips, there are zillions of them for sale on Etsy.com last time I looked.
I don't know about Etsy, but most of the "bakelite" or "catalin" chips for sale on eBay are either crappy (really crappy) old clays or plastic.
Yeah, same thing all around. You have to know what to look for in the pictures, but if you do, it's pretty easy to tell what's what. And there are plenty of nice-looking Catalin chips available, but they're way more expensive than they should be. If you're patient you can find good deals.
 
Paulson stamp. The Endy's kept it and BCC sold some chips with it.
 

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