How to identify a casino chip's manufacturer, mold and age

A chip found in a drawer, or one that arrives in a lot, usually has no maker's mark. Identification works by accumulating clues, none conclusive alone. This article sets out the clues collectors use and the reference catalogs that can confirm a guess.

In this guide

Start with the rim mold

Distributors historically used exclusive embossed rim molds partly to deter counterfeiting, and a mold on a chip can help identify the distributor, the approximate age and the region, according to the Poker Chip Forum's mold overview. It lists Paulson's hat-and-cane, T.R. King's crowns, Jones Brothers' large squares and Mason's hub mold as examples.¹ If the rim shows hats and canes, you are probably looking at a Top Hat and Cane (THC) chip; the Paulson article explains the variants (SCV, LCV, RHC, IHC) that forum members distinguish.²

Do not stop at the mold. Several makers' chips look alike in photographs, and the same mold can appear in chips from different eras.

Weight, size and surface

Weight and size separate eras and sometimes makers:

• A forum thread distinguishes Christy & Jones THCs (slightly larger than 39 mm, unleaded, lighter, shiny polished mold recesses) from later Paulson THCs (acid-etched surface, edge inserts more irregular in shape, lead-containing clay from about 1975 to 1998). These are member observations from a thread on the topic.³
• A scale reading to 0.1 g is enough to flag leaded chips. One member measured 9.80 g and 11.71 g on two 39 mm chips; other members suggest under 9 g is likely unleaded and over 10.25 g likely leaded, with color-dependent exceptions.⁴
• Wikipedia gives about 10 g as typical for a U.S. casino chip and 8 to 16 g as the worldwide range, so weight alone cannot name a maker.⁵

Edge spots, inserts and layers

The Casino Collectibles Association (CCA) defines inserts or edge spots as colored elements set into the body and not removable by scratching, and notes a chip's base color is the main body color.⁶ Their shape and arrangement help identify a manufacturer or an era: members say C&J chips have inserts curved along their inner diameter, while Paulson's are more irregular.³ Edge spots wear, and one collector describes edge layers wearing away quickly as a condition test.⁷

Hot stamp or inlay

Hot stamps are foil or ink pressed into the chip. Inlays are printed paper or vinyl graphics laminated with plastic and pressed in during molding.^{6 8} Paul-Son's company history credits it with introducing full-color compression-molded graphics with large inlays in the early 1990s, so a large full-color inlay on a compression-molded chip is unlikely to predate that.⁹ A hot stamp that has been milled and relabeled shows tell-tale unevenness (see the relabel article).

Corporate history gives outer limits

• Paul-Son was founded in 1963 and moved production to San Luis, Mexico in 1982.⁹
• T.R. King was making chips by at least 1939 (a documented order) and a hobby site says it closed in summer 2006.^{10 11}
• Chipco's manufacturing is said to have ceased in March 2013.¹¹
• GPI was formed in a 2002 reverse merger (Paul-Son with Bourgogne et Grasset).⁹

These dates bracket when a maker's chips could exist.

Catalogs and communities that can confirm a guess

• The Museum of Gaming History's ChipGuide, a catalog operated by the Casino Collectibles Association, documents chips, including orders and surviving examples.¹⁰
• The CCA's education pages explain terms and grading.⁶
• On the Poker Chip Forum, post sharp photos of both faces and the edge, with weight and diameter, and ask for opinions. A forum member notes detailed production information often sits only with makers and distributors, so some sets cannot be dated precisely.¹²

What you cannot reliably tell

• Exact production year from a mold alone.
• Whether a set was "primary" or "secondary" without documentation.
• Exact venue or age from spot names such as 3D14 or 8V: these describe edge-spot designs, not a unique casino issue.¹³

An identification record you can reuse

Make a separate row for observation and interpretation. 'Seven hat-and-cane impressions visible' is an observation; 'probably Paulson' is an attribution to test. Keeping the two apart makes it easier to revise an identification when a stronger reference appears.

Use a pale neutral background and photograph both sides at the same scale. Add an angled edge view rather than enlarging a single blurred face photograph. If color is important, avoid filters and ask for several candidate chips in the same image.

How should an estimated date be written?

Separate the casino's operating dates from the chip's issue date. A venue that operated for forty years does not place every design at its opening. If your evidence only supports an era, write the era and the reason. If it supports one cataloged issue, record that reference. A precise-looking year without an issue match makes future searches less reliable.

Sources and further reading

1. Mold Design Overview, Poker Chip Forum: rim molds identify distributor, age and region.
2. Paulson Molds: RHC, SCV, LCV, what are these abbreviations?, Poker Chip Forum: mold abbreviations.
3. Christy & Jones vs Paulson THC chips, Poker Chip Forum: member observations.
4. What are the THC leaded sets out there?, Poker Chip Forum: weights.
5. Poker chip, Wikipedia: weights.
6. Chip terms FAQ, Casino Collectibles Association: glossary definitions.
7. Outpost Quarters, Poker Chip Forum: edge-layer wear.
8. How compression molded clay chips are made, Poker Chip Forum: inlay description.
9. Paul-Son Gaming Corporation History, FundingUniverse: dates.
10. ChipGuide entry, Museum of Gaming History: documented T.R. King order of 1939.
11. Poker chip makers, HomePokerTourney.org: hobby site with maker closing dates.
12. Help identifying chips and question about chip history, Poker Chip Forum: member note on records.
13. Name that spot, Poker Chip Forum: firsthand collector discussion mapping edge-spot names to numbered styles, including 3D14 and 8V.