Bud Jones, BCC, TRK, Chipco and the other casino chip makers

Collector trade posts compress maker names into abbreviations such as BCC, TRK and "Bud Jones". They refer to separate companies with different histories, and some are no longer in business. This guide sorts out what can be documented and what rests on forum memory.

In this guide

Gaming Partners International and its brands

Gaming Partners International (GPI) formed in 2002 when Paul-Son Gaming merged with the French firm Bourgogne et Grasset (B&G), which owned the Bud Jones Company.¹ GPI's 2008 annual report lists the brands Paulson, Bud Jones, Bourgogne et Grasset and T-K. It describes Paulson as its thermo-compression-molded "clay" chip, and Bud Jones and B&G as injection-molded chips.² The same filing gives the corporate dates: GPI USA was founded in Las Vegas in 1963, the Bud Jones Company was established in 1965, the French operation began in Beaune in 1923, and GPI's French parent bought Bud Jones in 2000.²

Bud Jones

Bud Jones is both a person and a brand. Forum members say Bud Jones co-designed the Top Hat and Cane mold in the 1950s with Bill Christy for Christy & Jones, a separate company that dissolved in 1965 (see the Paulson article).³ The Bud Jones Company that GPI acquired was established in 1965, per GPI's filing.² A hobby site that lists chip makers says Paulson is now manufactured by Bourgogne et Grasset, consistent with Paulson and Bud Jones sitting in the same group.⁴

BCC

Of the abbreviations in the wanted lists, BCC is the least clearly defined. A hobby maker guide lists a Blue Chip Company as a maker of compression-molded chips recognizable by a peacock or clamshell rim impression, with molded inlays and edge spots similar to Paulson's.⁴ A Poker Chip Forum thread about BCC does not itself spell out the acronym, but calls it a compression-molded chip manufacturer that competed with the major producers. In that thread a member says BCC was started by the previous owners of Paulson and its assets later went to GPI, and another member says GPI bought it as a competitor and effectively shut it down. Those are forum members' statements and should be checked before relying on them.⁵ The thread also says a chip retailer, Sidepot, commissioned BCC to make chips on a "Cigar & Snifter" mold and a courts-and-numerals mold.⁵

Because the acronym is not spelled out in the forum thread, confirm with the person using it which company they mean. Do not assume that "BCC" and "Bud Jones" are the same.

TRK (T.R. King)

TRK is shorthand for T.R. King, which made casino chips on crown molds. The Museum of Gaming History's ChipGuide documents a 1939 order in which T.R. King sold 1,000 brown large-crown mold chips and 800 plain-mold chips to the operator of a San Bernardino-area illegal casino, which shows its chips were being made and sold by that date.⁶ A hobby maker guide says T.R. King made traditional chips with crown borders and deep inlays and closed in summer 2006.⁴ GPI's report still lists T-K among its brands, suggesting its name lives on within the group.² On wanted lists, "heavy TRK cash set" refers to a heavier-weight cash set from this maker; heaviness is described by collectors and is not a published specification.

Chipco

Chipco made ceramic chips with full-chip graphics and bright colors. A hobby guide says its manufacturing stopped in March 2013 and its molds went to Palm Gaming International.⁴

Other names

The same guide lists ASM (Atlantic Standard Molding), Merchant Ambassador, R.T. Plastics and others as makers of home-game chips of varying quality.⁴ That site is a hobby resource that points readers to sellers, so it should be read as background rather than as an independent history.

Classic Poker Chips and the Burt/ASM lineage

Classic Poker Chips provides a manufacturer-authored reference for another name encountered in collector discussions. Its company history traces the business through the Portland Billiard Ball Company, Burt Company and Atlantic Standard Molding, before the Classic Poker Chips name.⁷ That history is useful when an older listing says Burt or ASM rather than CPC; it does not mean every chip carrying one of those attributions can be identified from the company name alone.

The manufacturer's design tool keeps the mold, clay colors, edge spots and inlay as separate choices.⁸ This is a helpful visual reference for learning those parts of a chip. Compare an actual collector specimen with its own issue reference rather than assuming a new custom design proves the origin of an older casino chip.

Why the maker matters to a collector

• Feel and sound. Collectors judge makers by weight, texture and sound, but those are subjective and vary by era and set.
• Rim mold. A chip's rim mold often points to its distributor or region.⁹
• Supply. A maker that closed, such as T.R. King or Chipco, cannot produce further runs, so original chips from them are a closed set. GPI stopped selling its card-pip mold chips to distributors in 2013, according to a forum member.¹⁰

Comparing chip makers before buying a full set

Use a small sample to answer practical questions that a brand name cannot. Put the candidates on the same playing surface and compare legibility, texture, stack stability and how easily similar denominations can be distinguished. Keep manufacturer identification separate from your preference: a chip that feels pleasant is not automatically the maker claimed in the listing.

For searches, expand abbreviations into T R King poker chips, Blue Chip Company BCC chips, Bud Jones casino chips and Chipco ceramic casino chips. Try punctuation variants for T.R. King; old listings may omit periods or spaces.

Does a corporate acquisition identify an individual chip?

Not by itself. The brand history above describes companies and product families, not an authentication method for an unlabeled specimen. Identify the physical design first, then use company dates to test whether the proposed story is plausible. Save uncertain attributions as uncertain rather than silently turning them into collection facts.

Sources and further reading

1. Paul-Son Gaming Corporation History, FundingUniverse: 2002 merger with Bourgogne et Grasset.
2. Gaming Partners International Corp, Form 10-K for fiscal 2008, U.S. SEC: brands, chip types and corporate dates.
3. Christy & Jones vs Paulson THC chips, Poker Chip Forum: Christy & Jones history.
4. Poker chip makers, HomePokerTourney.org: hobby site summarizing makers; note that it also promotes sellers.
5. I Need A History Lesson: BCC/Sidepot/Buypokerchips.com, Poker Chip Forum: member accounts of BCC.
6. ChipGuide entry, Museum of Gaming History: documented T.R. King order of 1939.
7. About Classic Poker Chips, manufacturer: company history through Burt Company and Atlantic Standard Molding.
8. Classic Poker Chips design tool, manufacturer: mold, color, edge-spot and inlay design choices.
9. Mold Design Overview, Poker Chip Forum: rim molds identify distributors.
10. Help identifying chips and question about chip history, Poker Chip Forum: member statement on GPI discontinuing the card-pip mold.