What happens to your chips when you croak? (2 Viewers)

BGinGA said:
As somebody who nearly died a month ago (and was given a 9% chance of croaking in the next 90 days), my need to liquidate my chip related assets has somewhat escalated recently.

I'd rather sell them myself than burden others. Available time and energy are the variables.
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dibs




…
But get well soon, seriously
 
BGinGA said:
As somebody who nearly died a month ago (and was given a 9% chance of croaking in the next 90 days), my need to liquidate my chip related assets has somewhat escalated recently.

I'd rather sell them myself than burden others. Available time and energy are the variables.
Click to expand...
Wishing only the very best for you Dave. As someone who survived a life threatening event myself, and the uncertainty that follows it’s now 6.5 years since and I’m still kicking. Hang tough buddy, I’m praying for you.
 
BGinGA said:
As somebody who nearly died a month ago (and was given a 9% chance of croaking in the next 90 days), my need to liquidate my chip related assets has somewhat escalated recently.

I'd rather sell them myself than burden others. Available time and energy are the variables.
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear that. Take care of yourself.
Everything will be fine!
 
BGinGA said:
As somebody who nearly died a month ago (and was given a 9% chance of croaking in the next 90 days), my need to liquidate my chip related assets has somewhat escalated recently.

I'd rather sell them myself than burden others. Available time and energy are the variables.
Click to expand...
Very sorry to hear, Dave. Wishing you well and praying for a full recovery.
 
BGinGA said:
As somebody who nearly died a month ago (and was given a 9% chance of croaking in the next 90 days), my need to liquidate my chip related assets has somewhat escalated recently.

I'd rather sell them myself than burden others. Available time and energy are the variables.
Click to expand...
Dave, my thoughts are with you, good vibes coming your way
 
Hello (Skip to the next paragraph if you don't want the bio)
I am new to the forum. I accidently started collecting chips about 20 years ago. The online poker craze and televised poker tourneys and all.
When I was young and unmarried and had cash to burn, or so I thought, I spent a lot of forum time in casinos around Lake Tahoe and Reno. I fell in love with the beautiful chips and the sound they make. Anyway............... We started a home game and one of our wealthier buddies invested in the new fangled weighted plastic chips. He spent about $.25 A chip, you know, the ugly red, white ,green, and blue chips? He spent a whopping $125 on the set. I hated those chips! I found a set of Paulson Classics for about $1 per chip, My friend Mark thought that I was the biggest donkey for paying face value for the $1 chips and over paying for th $.25 (Pharaoh's) chip. Over the next few years, I amassed an 800 chip collection for less than $1000. Mark was so bummed because we only used his plastic chips twice. Nothing beats a quality clay chip with beautiful edge spots That set is worth 5 or 6 time the amount I paid. Who is the Dummy in the story?
I now own over 10k chips in various Paulson chip sets. 3K Paulson Classics, 2k Hollywood BR, 2k 1998 CDI, 900 Legends of the West. 600 Good Luck Club and various other Paulson chip samplers like Dogs, Presidents, Airplanes, Flags, ECT.
FINALLY to the point. If you own a valuable chipset you can get it appraised by an auction house or a coin dealer for the sake of insuring it. My collection is in my family trust with the appraisal value and receipts. You can ask a fellow chipper to sell your things for you, or you can sell your collection at auction less the 15% to 20% house take. I keep a journal of my purchase and have shared with my family the expected value of my chip collection. If the collection has a high value and sold after a person's passing, it may be subject to inheritance tax. I plan to sell my collection off before I get to old to play poker anymore. (God Willing)
Cheers
Good thoughts and and shared grief in your in your time of strife
 
snoozedoggydog said:
Hello (Skip to the next paragraph if you don't want the bio)
I am new to the forum. I accidently started collecting chips about 20 years ago. The online poker craze and televised poker tourneys and all.
When I was young and unmarried and had cash to burn, or so I thought, I spent a lot of forum time in casinos around Lake Tahoe and Reno. I fell in love with the beautiful chips and the sound they make. Anyway............... We started a home game and one of our wealthier buddies invested in the new fangled weighted plastic chips. He spent about $.25 A chip, you know, the ugly red, white ,green, and blue chips? He spent a whopping $125 on the set. I hated those chips! I found a set of Paulson Classics for about $1 per chip, My friend Mark thought that I was the biggest donkey for paying face value for the $1 chips and over paying for th $.25 (Pharaoh's) chip. Over the next few years, I amassed an 800 chip collection for less than $1000. Mark was so bummed because we only used his plastic chips twice. Nothing beats a quality clay chip with beautiful edge spots That set is worth 5 or 6 time the amount I paid. Who is the Dummy in the story?
I now own over 10k chips in various Paulson chip sets. 3K Paulson Classics, 2k Hollywood BR, 2k 1998 CDI, 900 Legends of the West. 600 Good Luck Club and various other Paulson chip samplers like Dogs, Presidents, Airplanes, Flags, ECT.
FINALLY to the point. If you own a valuable chipset you can get it appraised by an auction house or a coin dealer for the sake of insuring it. My collection is in my family trust with the appraisal value and receipts. You can ask a fellow chipper to sell your things for you, or you can sell your collection at auction less the 15% to 20% house take. I keep a journal of my purchase and have shared with my family the expected value of my chip collection. If the collection has a high value and sold after a person's passing, it may be subject to inheritance tax. I plan to sell my collection off before I get to old to play poker anymore. (God Willing)
Cheers
Good thoughts and and shared grief in your in your time of strife
Click to expand...
Only you forget that the chips that are played with wear out and lose value.
It is definitely not gold.
 
Yesterday, I experienced exactly the kind of story we're discussing here!
About a chipper who is no longer with us… and the chips left behind with the family.

I found a set on a local online marketplace that I liked — BCC.
The seller couldn’t say much about the condition of the chips but clearly had visited PCF before, so he had some idea about prices. However, he had no clue why some chips cost more and others less.
We agreed on a price, and I promised to take a look at the rest.
He told me he had around 15,000 chips stored in his basement… That definitely caught my attention.
In the end, I spent 4 hours driving to go through those boxes.

When I arrived, there was a pile of boxes filled with mixed chips: plastic, Paulson, BCC, ASM, ceramic, and total junk… Some new or new but moldy, some broken.

To keep it short: I couldn’t even manage to check everything.
I asked the guy: "Where did all this come from? I mean, I’ll take what we agreed on, but only if this is all legitimate..."

It felt a little suspicious. You could tell that someone had started putting chip sets together (though not all denominations were present, and not all chips were even cleaned).
He must have been a passionate chipper, but the seller didn’t know anything about chips — other than what he’d seen on eBay.

Turns out, these chips belonged to his sister’s husband, who had passed away, and now they didn’t know what to do with it all...

He didn’t negotiate much, and I probably could’ve talked him down to the price I originally offered — especially considering how many of the chips were in terrible shape. That way, I might have made a profit.
But something clicked inside me, and I didn’t want to feel like a villain buying them for pennies…

So I told him honestly what things might be worth, and that I could take it all — but I only had 5 or 6,000€ with me, and to be honest, that probably wouldn’t satisfy him.
But he called the widow, and she gave her approval.
In the end, I gave him all the money I had with me and also left him two boxes of ceramic chips that I already owned.

Altogether, it’s about 80 kg (175 lbs) of chips — some great, some pure garbage. About a 50/50 split.

IMG_20250611_075019.jpg

IMG_20250611_080047.jpg




Excellent and fair deal, both with the seller and with my own conscience. Especially considering that he was clearly a member of the PCF. And he was clearly collecting chips, not reselling them...

Very promising...
IMG_20250611_091258_edit_789919564296653.jpg

It was inside...
:-)
IMG_20250611_112723.jpg



Once again, I’ll say this: it's probably better to sell your chips yourself. Even with a small discount — at least you’ll get an honest and fair price. And peace of mind.
 
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maxim_666666 said:
Once again, I’ll say this: it's probably better to sell your chips yourself.
Click to expand...

If I could predict the date of my death… Or get old enough that I stop hosting and know I’m not going to host again… Then sure. But I’m more concerned about an unexpected end, what happens then.
 
I'm approaching the age where I've thought about this a few times. I have kids who play poker to a degree, but have very little idea regarding the value of my collection. Even my son who is a member here doesn't really understand all the gory details. At some point in the next few years, I'll sit down with each of the interested kids and ask them what, if anything they might want. I'll then put those into my will.

For the rest, I have considered asking PCF member friends that I trust if they would be willing to assist in helping to liquidate. I'm certain that my wife has ZERO IDEA how much I've spent on chips. I'd prefer to keep it that way until after I'm gone.
 
TX_Golf_N_Poker said:
For the rest, I have considered asking PCF member friends that I trust if they would be willing to assist in helping to liquidate. I'm certain that my wife has ZERO IDEA how much I've spent on chips.
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Here's what I remembered. When the seller was calling the widow to get approval, I accidentally overheard part of the conversation. She said to him:
"Lord, let him take everything if he's ready."
"But we can get more!"
"I don't care! We haven't been able to get this off the ground for more than six months... I'm tired of all these boxes. The price is fine. Give him the chips."
What does this mean? Even if people have some idea of prices, it's not a given that they will adhere to your commandments.
TX_Golf_N_Poker said:
I'd prefer to keep it that way until after I'm gone.
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Sounds great!

Personally, if I knew the moment I would pass away, I would sell my "treasures" and buy the children something to remember me by. For example, a Rolex watch... :-)
 
maxim_666666 said:
Here's what I remembered. When the seller was calling the widow to get approval, I accidentally overheard part of the conversation. She said to him:
"Lord, let him take everything if he's ready."
"But we can get more!"
"I don't care! We haven't been able to get this off the ground for more than six months... I'm tired of all these boxes. The price is fine. Give him the chips."
What does this mean? Even if people have some idea of prices, it's not a given that they will adhere to your commandments.
Click to expand...

This is exactly why my preference would be to have a PCF member selling to other PCF members. The other big priority for me is to get my collection organized. I have chips everywhere right now, including some total junk from early on in my journey. I need to find homes for everything that I don't want to keep long-term within the next couple of years. And I NEED TO STOP BUYING! LOL! Except for my future CPC set. Hopefully one (or more) of my sons will want that once it's made.
 
Poker Zombie said:
As a couple without children, we "adopted" a friend who (as of our last will) will receive most of everything, including the chips. It just so happens that they are also a PCF'er, so the future of the chips is pretty secure.
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So...how does one get considered for adoption? Is there an application? Interview process? Any height or weight requirements? Asking for a friend.
 
I’ve tried figuring out who this thread is for.

For the chipper who:
  • Doesn’t have a close/local chipper friend and
  • Has a very valuable collection and
  • Loved ones have zero clue as to the chips having great worth and
  • Has a vast collection of items/different hobbies that loved ones are toooverwhelmed to google search/chat gpt (which sends them here for valuation) and
  • Doesn’t have a will/any itemized aspect of collection(s)
  • Doesn’t have their collection insured as part of their home or other insurance

Yes, that 0.08% of chippers are in quite a pickle!
 
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Taghkanic said:
What will happen to your chip collection when you kick the bucket?

I’ve been rewriting my will, and am working through how to help my heirs sell my collection... My thoughts/concerns in comments.

I’m curious what plans if any other PCFers have made in this regard.
Click to expand...
I put @Josh Kifer in charge of mine, what could go wrong.
 

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