Main focus for your collection (1 Viewer)

[pltrgyst]

Hey -- get off those CiCs, youngster. That's my turf.

 

[ovo]

Hey -- get off those CiCs, youngster. That's my turf.

I’ll wait for the old man to finally retire

 

[Coyote]

Remember that no chips or any currency will be accepted in the world below.

 

[Jimulacrum]

For singles, I've collected a $1 or other small denom from every casino I've visited over the years, including some home games (permission of host required) and "underground" games that used custom chips (I'll take what I want when you're raking 10% to $7).

I also have a handful of singles I've been given as random gifts and pot-splashers over the years. I generally remember which are which on sight.

For sets, I have just one: the Chipco ceramics from Rockingham Park in Salem, NH, which closed in 2016. I used to play there, I attended the auction when it closed down, and I now own the largest recognized set on PCF (and likely the largest set in existence), at a total of 3,523 in white $1, gray $5, and green $25 chips.

There are a lot of other Rockingham chips out there, both cash and tournament, but I'm not especially interested in those. They were made by a different manufacturer, don't have the same feel as the chips I own, and in the case of the red $2, aged even less gracefully than the gray $5s. If someday I have an unlimited budget, maybe I'll consider hunting down some of them down, but for now I'm all set.

I've always been a little sad that there's no frac for this set, since I play mainly $0.25/0.50 and have to use the $25 as a substitute. There's no $100 either. I'm actually working on some BRPro customs right now to fill those gaps (lavender $0.25s and black $100s with peach inlay), so ultimately it will be a hybrid casino/custom set.

It's not that I have no interest in collecting anything else, but this is all that's on my plate for the foreseeable future.

 

[TX_Golf_N_Poker]

Interesting topic actually and I like the thread idea. That OP comemnt could be taken multiple ways... if meaning "singles collecting" this particular forum is more gear in the direction of set bulding rather than collecting singles... though many set collectors also do have healthy singles collections as well.

in terms of a collection of sets.. seems like time for a good ole "Ben Book"

Mine is going to be a bit different than most... "variety is the flavor of life" I guess covers the way I built my collection...

While many here may make a statement like "THC/TRK or nothing!" Or "only collecting leaded chips" I feel like I have always been the opposite. As a chip collector I want to give my players the opportunity to experience the different products that the gaming world has produced. That meaning vintage clay (very different then the feel of current products which have much more plastic built into the concoction they call clay), modern clay (which has several different manufacturers that all carry their own uniqness, feel and look), house molds, leaded/unleaded, ceramics, hybrid ceramics, plastics, different sizes, shapes in the form of plaques and octagons.

Some people here have 5 different THC or RHC sets that are built with the same breakdowns to cover their games... yup different spot colors, a different inlay... but generally the same thing over and over. Some despise CPC while others have entire CPC "customs or nothing" collections. Not that any of those people are wrong in ANY way... remeber the aged statement of "if we all loved the same thing this hobby would be extremely boring!"

Of course collections can evolve over time... with any time at all spent here on the forum will likely yield the feeling that "Paulson is the best!" So maybe you set your sights on building a set of Paulson chips... even though that has several sub categories of its own... let's say you get some samples and decide a RHC set for around $2k is your budget and you are successful in building said set... some would take the stance that the next build needs to be an "upgrade" so I gotta go THC next, then Leaded, then TRK, many before these steps shift gears and go the "customs" route of CPC before those more expensive ventures. Some sell their currents before moving on with the stance that "I only need one set at a time, or can only afford 1 set" but the reality of it all is that it is YOUR unique journey.

Some set builders here literally buy new sets of Mint chips and put them.on a shelf and look at them, some people come simply looking for an upgrade from their crappy Dice chips and simply want a playable set with denominations on them with a budget of $300 total... other sets you are lucky I that pays for TWO chips.

I personally have chip set that cost $.25 a chip and others that are $60 and higher per chip and just as happy playing BOTH

ROTATION is the name of the game... the more sets you own and felt, the less wear and tear on your individual sets... if you are in an area with other chippers and everyone has their own chips then it is possible that hours many only see the felt a couple times a year and hence last for many years to come.

Have fun... blow your budget about 2000 times and enjoy your chipping journey

Fellow Chipper
Ben

Great post. It's been too long since I read a "Ben book." Hope you are doing well my friend.

My collecting style is very similar. I simply love chips. Pretty much all of them. And when I joined this forum 4 years ago, I had no idea that I was about to embark on a new hobby that would take up a great portion of my free time.

I was an occasional poker player who just wanted a neat looking set of chips. I had spent a little time researching, (before PCF) and was trying to decide if I could justify spending 35 cents a chip on a set of Milanos. I found PCF and jumped in, posting questions and seeing if everyone here also agreed that Milanos were fantastic "real clay" poker chips. I was given a very rude awakening...

Well, in spite of learning that Milanos were not all that I thought they were cracked up to be, my budget then was still mighty small. I discovered some other china clay chips (8Vs and Spirit molds) that I liked better, and eventually purchased a 900 chip cash set. After that it (meaning my bank account) was all downhill...

Since then I have bought sets of cheap ceramics, (Tina cards mold) plastics, (Gemaco Tropicana) my first clays - vintage 1970s Dragonara Palace Casino on the Large Greek Key mold, a leaded THC set - Crystal Palace, and a Paulson RHC mixed casino tournament set. About the only thing I don't have is a playable set of CPCs. I do have one of those in the planning stages though.

And about that budget... In the four years I have been here I have exceeded my original April, 2020 budget by about 50x. It almost hurts to say that.

You know, back to your original question, there actually is a theme to almost everything I have bought. I really like edge spots. So while one of my sets does have solid fracs and dollars, all my other playable chips are spotted. That is what brought me here to PCF. I wanted chips with pretty edge spots. To me, that was how I defined what a real poker chip was.

 

[greatoz99]

I'm a singles guy. Focusing on AC and LV $1s. I have probably 700 or so different ones....

 

[HauntedHawk]

Ive always just collected Binions Horseshoe chips. Recently getting back into it and have restarted the search for the ones Im missing.

 

[stinky634]

Depends on the day!

It usually starts with a place I visited that I get chips from. Then I look up which limited runs they have and try to find those. Then occasionally I’ll find older chips from them on eBay or whatever, and collect whatever I can.

Years ago I was obsessed with making playable sets, had some Enpress and PCA sets that I’ve since sold.