Mold Designs

IN MEMORIAM: Robert Eisenstadt 1942 - 2020

On June 5, 2020, Robert Eisenstadt died peacefully at home, in the loving presence of his sister Nancy and his sister's family. He will be dearly missed by all of us who loved and appreciated him. If you would like to leave a story about Robert, write a message, or read what others have written, please click here. He took pride in his collection and loved sharing it with fellow enthusiasts; please have a look and enjoy.

CATEGORIES OF EMBOSSED RIM MOLD DESIGNS

DICE APPEAR IN MOLD DESIGNS

Number	Picture	Details	Price
MD-1		SPEED DICE -- (also known as "Dice with Comet's Tail", and "Dice Swirls") (DISWRL) -- six different dice, each with comet's tail; opposite dice total 7. This mold has been used by just a few casinos. "The Chip Rack" (10th edition) lists only three Nevada casinos which used this mold..........Mold owned by Midwest Game Supply Co. (Bill Borland's Blue Book gives the mold's owner as Portland Card Co., Portland OR [now out of business].) I just (Feb 2018) corresponded with the "account executive" at Midwest, and he told me "at this time we are not making these [speed dice] chips."	$10.00
MD-2		ARROW DIE -- (a/k/a Arrows and Dice) (ARODIE) -- 12 arrowheads and 12 dice (the 6 dice sides are repeated twice; the opposite dice total 7). c.1953-c.1968: Tom Haines and Co., Las Vegas NV. Some or all of them were marketed under the name Precision, Inc., 214 W. Wyoming, Las Vegas NEV, Haines' company. The arrow die mold is highly prized and relatively rare. It has been used mostly in Nevada. ... .... David Spragg offered this info: "Chips are known from 1947 (or even 1946 onwards). No one knows who the original owner was, the mold possibly resided at USPC before being bought by Burt in 1946. 1951-1953 it was owned by H N Garrison of Reno Game Supply (at that time Tommy Haines was an employee). From 1953 it was owned by Haines (initially as Precision Inc). All chips were made by Burt Co. After the mold wore out and was returned to Haines it was presumably destroyed." ..... An interesting thing about the arrowdie mold is that there is one hashmark on each side of an arrowdie chip. Each side has 12 dice (2 sets of 1 thru 6). So there are two one-spots (aces) on each side. On each side there is only one hashmark (looks like a slanted file mark) above (only) one of the one-spot dies. Same thing on the other side. It is hard to see on worn chips. Easy to see here. Just click this link. ...........The yellow chip pictured on the far left is a generic Arrow Die chip -- "$5" is on both sides. For sale I have the same thing, except used, in white and "5�" on both sides.	$5.00
MD-3		EWING -- 12 pips and 6 different dice; the opposite dice total 7. 1971-?. Ewing Manufacturing Co,. Las Vegas (now defunct)............The chip is from a now-closed Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic casino. (I also have for sale the same $5 inlaid chip with this difference: red clay color and 3 beige inserts -- also $4.00). ... ... UPDATE: currently owned and reserved by Classic Poker Chips company for casino customers only. It is licensed for use in Nevada, but is not in production now.	$4.00
MD-4		DICE AND DIAMONDS -- four diamonds and four pair ("2" and "5") of dice. Distributor, etc., unknown to me. Rare mold, not used in U.S. The chip pictured is of the Continental Casino in Korea ("Continental....K.J. Korea").
MD-5		NEVADA-NEVADA -- "NEVADA" twice, one pair ("2" and "5") of dice, and four aces. This mold was used by the The Bud Jones Co., Las Vegas NV, 1965-1980's to make legitimate casino chips; it was used in about 36 different clubs in (only) Nevada. Click here to see salesman's samples of 100 blank Nevada-Nevada chips in varying colors and edge spot combinations. ... ... .... About 1991 the mold was eventually sold to Bill Borland , who, it is believed, used the mold and certain hot-stamp dies and inlays to make counterfeit and fantasy chips, as well as a few legitimate casino chips, especially non-value chips. Beware. ...... .... .... . It is not being used, at this time, by any casinos or clubs. Nevada Jacks Co., the current owner of the mold, recently purchased it, in 2001, from Atlantic Standard Molding (which had gotten the mold from the Borland/Jerry Wall estates), and it currently resides at Blue Chip Co., Las Vegas, which makes the chips for Nevada Jacks. It is exclusively used to make the Nevada Jack clay poker chip (for home poker sets). Nevada Jacks Co. sells chips and other gambling supplies. Click here to view the Nevada Jacks web site. A more detailed history of the mold is found at this fine web page by David Spragg. ... .... .....This chip for sale here has a faint hot-stamped horse's head on it....... .... Also available for sale at the same $3 price is an unused red chip with a hot-stamped gold horseshoe.	$3.00
MD-6		DICE AND CARDS (DIECAR) -- pair ("2" and "5") of dice four times, and hand (4 aces) of cards four times. (I have seen this arrangement, also incused, on metal center plastic molds, but with 3 pair of dice and 3 hands of cards.) Used by Bud Jones Co. (1970's -1980's). Same Bud Jones- Bill Borland story as presented above with MD-5.......The chip for sale here is coded FN HAR-1 in the "1998 Black's Catalog of Atlantic City Casino Chips and Gaming Tokens." FN means "Fun Night," which is when they were used -- for a day or two in 1980 by the public for "practice" so the New Jersey officials could observe the casino staff in operation and approve the official opening of the casino. The chips offered here are beige and in mint condition. ... ..... As of October 2015, the mold is still being produced in Maine at Classic Poker Chips company, a company that took over from Atlantic Standard Molding in 2013-2014. All their molds can be seen here. The mold is licensed for use in Nevada as of 2014 onwards.	$5.00
MD-7		DICE AND SUITS (DIESUITS) -- pair ("2" and "5") of dice three times, and cluster of the 4 pips three times. Bud Jones Co., Las Vegas, which has been making coin inlay chips from 1971 to present, although the design in the pictured chip is probably discontinued...........The chip is from the now-defunct Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, casino. The one for sale is just like the pictured chip to the left except that there is no "$" sign with the "1".	$4.00
MD-7a		DICE AND FOUR SUITS (DIE4SUITS) -- pair of dice and 4 pips. Same story as in MD-7, above. Here, instead of clusters of small pips, we have individual pips (suit symbols).	$4.00
MD-8		MR. LUCKY -- "Mr. Lucky" three times, and a pair of dice three times. Not a registered casino mold. Rather recent vintage. A number of times in the 1980's I met Irving Cohen, who sold and rented these chips and gaming equipment from his home in Laurelton NY, a section of NYC in Long Island. (Irving , who was in his 60's then, said he ran junkets, claimed to have won a California gambling ship in a Las Vegas craps game, that the 1943 Cary Grant movie, "Mr. Lucky," was named after him, and that he started and ran the Las Vegas' Monte Carlo/Sans Souci/Castaways till he sold out to Howard Hughes.) Last I heard, he relocaterd to Florida. Bill Borland's World-Wide Casino Exchange, Las Vegas NV, was selling these 7 gram "durable plastic" (nice clay feel, anyway) chips in 1990, at least. ..........The chips I have for sale have the denomination on the back -- white,$1; red, $5; orange, $2; green, $25.	$3.00
MD-9		Recent mold. 2 pair of dice and 8 suits. Manufacturer is unknown. Reported to ChipBoard by Roy Klein, October 2009, who said, "It's a pretty light weight chip with a bit of plastic in the clay composition. There are no ejector pin marks or anything like that."

LETTERS OR WORDS APPEAR IN MOLD DESIGNS

Number	Picture	Details	Price
MD-10		HOUSE MOLD (Bud Jones) -- this is an example of a Bud Jones Co., Las Vegas NV, house "mold" on a plastic chip with a metal inlay. The rim inscription is not embossed, rather it is flat -- a plastic inlay in the plastic rim of the chip. Bud Jones made coin inlay plastic chips 1970's-present. (Incidentally, there are so many examples of different inalid rim plastic chips [with various designs, suits and pips] that they can not all be shown here or anywhere, so I don't attempt to list them, unless they are venerable.) ......The chip offered here is the first-issue $1 chip of Harrah's Marina, Atlantic City NJ (1980).
MD-11		HOUSE MOLD (Paulson) -- special embossed rim mold design made just for that casino. First used by a Nevada casino in the mid-1960's. It has become increasingly popular over time and is now used by virtually every modern casino. The design may contain the casino name and/or logo, and possibly the denomination.. I applied pencil to the chip on the left so you could easily read the incused mold design: "Resorts International 1$." House molds come in both composition and plastic casino chips...............The chip offered here for sale as a sample of a house mold chip is the current Resorts chip. The four edge stripes are blue (the photo distorts the color).	$3.00
MD-11a		ROULETTE MOLD -- incused (recessed)"roulette" repeated twice. Paul-son Gaming Supplies, Las Vegas NV. This is Paul-son's generic mold for its roulette chips. The chip on the left is quite soiled so the embossed incused lettering on the rim scans particularly well.
MD-12		CASINO NAMES -- 8 Las Vegas casino names -- four on one side (Caesars, Grand, Stardust and Sands) and four on the reverse (Circus, Aaddin, Dunes and Riviera). In the lates 1970's-early 1980's these chips were sold in Las Vegas gift shops and elsewhere. They were sold in a wooden (?) box with a sliding clear plastic top that had the words, "Official Casino Gaming Chips." It is an injection molded plastic poker chip, not used for casinos.......I have them for sale in red, white and blue.	$3.00
MD-13		"A" MOLD (a/k/a AMERICAN MOLD) -- an "A" and three dashes, repeated four times. 1960's-present. The chip-mold was originally made by Atlantic Standard Molding, Portland, Maine, which in 2013-2014 changed ownership and became Classic Poker Chips. All their molds can be seen here. The mold is licensed for use in Nevada as of 2014 onwards. It is mainly used elsewhere -- Indian reservations, small clubs, home games, etc.	$3.00
MD-13a		ROYAL FLUSH-STEAMBOAT MOLD -- 4 steamboats (we think: two smoke stacks blowing a trail of smoke, etc.?), 2 royal flushes in spades (A, K, Q, J, 10), and two Ace-Kings. Plastic, injection-molded chip, found May 2001 by Dave Smith at a Massachsetts antique show-flea market. The center of the chip may have been left blank for future hot-stamping. Good quality plastic chip; may contain some composition material; makes nice 'thud" sound against a table top...............I have for sale the chips in beige and green. I don't have many, so only one chip per customer.	$6.00
MD-14		"B" MOLD -- "B" and dash, repeated eight times. 1960's-present Bazaar Supply & Equipment Co., N. Y. The owner told me the mold was never used very much, especially today, and never used by a casino, rather a light chip for home games and clubs. (However, Bill Borland's Blue Book of Casino Chips describes it as a "registered casino design," no longer in use.) .........I have these worn samples for sale -- (1) blue 10, pictured; and (2) red, no denomination.	$3.00
MD-15		B-DIAMOND (a/k/a DIAMOND-B) -- "B" and 4 diamonds, repeated four times. This mold seems to have been used mostly in the northwestrn United States. It is now sold by Seattle Restaurant Store Co. (a cookware store!), Seattle WA, which opened in 1933 as Tavern Supply Co./Bar Mart........Luke Rapley sent me a variation of this chip, which came in a box saying Tavern Supply Co., Seattle, Wash. To see it, click here. ...........I have the chip pictured on the left for sale. They are in nice shape except for the worn hot-stamp image. One side has "$1.00." and the reverse says "5050." .... As of October 2015, the mold is still being produced in Maine at Classic Poker Chips company, a company that took over from Atlantic Standard Molding in 2013-2014. All their molds can be seen here. The mold is licensed for use in Nevada as of 2014 onwards.	$4.00
MD-16		WAVE CRESTS (a/k/a WAVE) -- 24 waves. (The mold is shown on this page because the wave crests look like the letter "C.") 1930's-1940's. Bowman Equipment Co. ("Bowman Excel Speed" appears on one of my advertising distributor chips), Chicago IL. (I found an identical chip [but with 23 waves] in a c.1961 Evans Park and Carnival Device Corp. {successors to H C Evans & Co.} catalog.).........The chips to the left is available for sale in four colors -- red, white, black and yellow. It is unattibuted. Chips are in very fine condition. Robert Ensley provided the chips with the "W."	$4.00
MD-16a		CARO -- 16 suit symbols and the letters "C," "A," "R," and "O." This is the embossed mold of the famous (now defunct) Paris, France, gambling supply house. Click here for some history about Caro. The samples for sale here are all notched.	$20.00
MD-17		"C" MOLD -- a large embossed "C." (On the chip pictured to the left, I scored the chip with a pencil to highlight the embossed "C" mold. Click here for more pictures of C-mold chips.) H. C. Evans and Co., Chicago IL. c. 1900 to 1930's. (The embossed "C" mold chip appears in a c.1900 Harris Co. catalog and a 1909 Evans catalog. The most recent Evans catalog I found with the mold is a 1929 one.) The Evans catalog proclaims that "the large Casino C is an exclusive Evans' design.." The Harris Co., Brooklyn NY, catalog said the "C" was for "club." It proclaimed that the chip gives a club a "distinctive poker check which cannot be duplicated by any other manufacturer, and will prevent ringers." Jim Blanchard says H. E. Mason & Co. once owned the mold..... ..... I have for sale these C-mold chips: (a) for $15 each I have the inlaid monogram chips with a "B" on one side and a "D" on the reverse. Picture here. Have them in red, white and blue. Blues have some burns. (b) for $3 each I have brown chips with hot-stamped "PH," plain white chips, and blue (worn, with hot-stamped star with rays).
MD-18		C, SPADES, HEARTS, CLUBS, DIAMONDS -- "C" and the four pips, repeated four times. Club Room Equipment Co.
MD-19		"H" MOLD (H.C.E.) -- 8 H's. H. C. Edwards and Co., NYC. Was a major supplier of Nevada chips, 1940's to 1968. The business was started in the 1920's [I own a 1929 H. C. Edwards catalog, but unfortunately it didn't include chips, just dice, cards, etc., although "checks" was one of the products listed on the cover] and was sold and broken up in 1984. Then Bazaar Supply/Berk Trading Co., Yonkers, NY, owned the mold and used it infrequently, but not for U.S. casinos. I am told that the mold was used in Europe at that time. In about 2004, Bazaar Supply/Berk Trading went out of business, and Atlantic Standard Molding/Poker Chips Online bought the mold, and although it is not yet shown on their web site, it is used today by ASM for home poker chip sets, but not for casinos..........Mark Lighterm has obtained some of the H C Edwards Co. shipping-chip hot-stamp records and has put them on two CD's ($15.00) and in an H.C.E. book. E-mail him at mlighter@bellsouth.net .....Club 36 chips are unattributed in some works, but the Richard Edward Staeffler Memorial California Card Rooms web site attributes them to club at 3628 University Ave, San Diego CA (1974-77). ... ..... As of October 2015, the mold is still being produced in Maine at Classic Poker Chips company, a company that took over from Atlantic Standard Molding in 2013-2014. All their molds can be seen here. The mold is licensed for use in Nevada as of 2014 onwards.	$3.00
MD-21		"L" MOLD -- 32 L's. Old mold, used mostly in California; not used today ... .... .....In fact, most of the chips found with this mold were in California...... ..... C. W. Rice Co.......For the picture on the left, the incused embossed lines were filled with soap for photography purposes. The chip is unattributed. The reverse side says $5.00. .. ..... UPDATE: this mold is not in use anymore, has not been used to make chips in some 20 years. It was donated to the Nevada Historical Society and is on display there.	$3.00
MD-22		LAZY "N" (a/k/a OIL CAN MOLD) -- 8 N's or oil cans. A recently discovered old mold. Distributor is unknown. It's a real mystery -- it wasn't made by the Burt Co., which manufactured most of these old chips. Steve Goodrich provided the scan..... I have recently picked up a number of chips with this mold, including this one for bpoe Elks Club lodge 1907, Rangely CO (only one chip).... Ah ha, maybe the "N" stands for "Nintendo." In August 2014 on eBay, 100 of these chips appeared in a cardboard chip box, printed on the box is "Nintendo, made in Japan." Everything was complete and in mint condition. The chips were plain white, with the "Lazy N" mold. Here is a picture of the chip, the Nintendo box and the "N" logo of Ninendo, which appears on the box. Nintendo was founded as a playing card company, a product it still makes. It is the largest video company in the world by volume and the third most valuable company in Japan. ....... The ones I have for sale are hot-stamped "MCL," are in very fine condition, colors: red, white, blue, yellow. I also have plain white. Some others have on them SOR (or SQR).	$5.00
MD-23		"N" MOLD (or "NV") -- 12 NV's. Unknown distributor, etc. Bill Borland showed this as him mold #41 in his " Official Blue Book of Casino Chips and Tokens " (now out of print). He lists 72 molds. I now have chip from each of those 72 molds, thanks to Douglass Deems, who supplied the MLT chip picture here (his chip), and he gave me this chip, where I applied soap to the design to better highlight the NV's. ... .... Looks to be plastic in whole or part. Weighs 4 grams.
MD-25		LAZY "S" (a/k/a S mold) -- 24 "lazy" S's. 1930's -1940's. Ryan & Co, Chicago IL ("Ryans Speed Checks" advertised on this mold); and H. E. Mason and Co., Chicago IL. The white chip pictured to the left is for sale. "One dollar" is on both sides.	$3.00
MD-26		"T" MOLD -- 26 T's, alternating right side up and upside down. 1930's-1951. Taylor & Co. Chicago IL (their advertising chips on this mold exclaimed "Taylor's Super Speed"). Taylor & Co was owned by the Chicago mafia. .......Yellow chip on the left is for sale; according to the shipping/order records of the Taylor Co, it was used at the Stag Bar, Perin, Illinois, c. 1949. (Perin is a subub of Peoria IL.) Yellow: $4 each. .. .... ... (I also have some T-mold chips with "JP" imprinted on them. They were shipped to the Jerome Hotel in Hammond Indiana, which was used as a mail drop for the Chicago mob. The JP chips were used at the bustling mob-run Owl Club in Calumet City, Illinois. The JP chips I sell for $8 each, brown only.)	$4.00
MD-26a		"T" MOLD (SMALL T) -- 54 T's, alternating right side up and upside down. The chips are 9 grams. The mold was designed by Elijah Muse in December 2005 for Holdempokerchips, which has always owned the mold. They call it the "interlocking T" mold (the T's in the design interlock, not the chips themselves.) They are sold both hot-stamped and plain for home sets and clubs, not licensed casinos, yet. To highlight the T-mold design in the scans to the left, I scored the rim mold with the side of a lead pencil.
MD-27		"TK" MOLD -- TK repeated 13 times. 1945-1970's? T.K. Specialty Co., Kansas City, KS and Reno NV. The patent for the chip ( click here to see it) was filed in 1945 by Walter W. Taylor (thanks to R Klein for finding it). .......The sample sold here is the red chip on the left. They are quite worn. BPOE 546 [an Elks Club in Alexandria LA] on one side, and $1.00 on the reverse.	$3.00
MD-28		"X" MOLD -- 22 X's. Relatively rare and old mold. Uncertain as to who the distributor is.	$3.00
MD-29		"COURTS & NUMERALS" -- the 13 indicies of each suit of playing cards, in this order: 2, 4, 8, Q, 5, J, 7, 9, A, 3, 6, K and 10. The mold dates from May 2004 and has always been owned and used by BuyPokerChips.com, which sells the chips only on-line as poker chip sets (not to casinos). "Courts & Numerals" is the name BuyPokerChips.com gave the mold. The Blue Chip Co, of North Las Vegas, makes the chips.	$2.00
MD-30		"PAULSON CHIPS" -- "PAULSON CHIPS" and the hat-and-cane logo are each in two places around the rim. Note that the hat is reversed on this mold -- i.e., the handle of the cane is on the left side of the hat. This is the mold manufactured by Gaming Partners International� SAS's (also known as GPI� SAS) United States division, GPI, USA (the old Paul-son and Bud Jones companies). The mold is used for home poker sets (that is, non-casino chips). The mold first appeared about 2004. It is a good quality, square-edged clay chip with a slick-finish inlay. GPI does not sell directly to the public; rather it wholesales the chips in very large chip orders. One company that retails these chips is BuyPokerChips.com. ..... ....... ........ The chip on the left is for sale. I scored the rim mold with the side of a pencil point so it would be more legible.	$3.00

HEARTS, SPADES OR CLUBS (PLAYING CARD PIPS) APPEAR IN MOLD DESIGNS

Number	Picture	Details	Price
MD-31		RECTANGLES & HEARTS -- heart and rectangle, repeated 11 times. 1950's. Code and Co., Chicago IL. (I have some advertising poker chips on this mold with the imprint "Codes Super Speed Check.") Samples of the mold, though not rare, are uncommon........I can sell you a chip of this mold -- blue, hot-stamped GT.	$3.00
MD-31a		TRIANGLES AND HEARTS -- heart and triangle, each repeated 12 times. I never noticed this mold before; thanks to Rich Hanover for bringing it to my attention. I have other chips from the same Portuguese casino (same logo, too), but with the Large Greek Key mold. Probably used abroad.
MD-32		TRIANGLES AND CLUBS (a/k/a Tri-Clubs) -- triangle and club pip, repeated 12 times. Gambler's General Store, and Langworthy Casino Supply, Inc. -- both of Las Vegas NV, as recently as 1991. I have one chip from Knightsbridge Casino, London (not shown here) that has this mold. .... ... .... ..... I have the green chip for sale as a sample of this mold. It is an advertising chip from the famous Burlington Industries Textile Corp, which has been around since 1923. Click here to visit the Burlington web site and to view their logo --similar as on the chip -- both the weave design and the rounded square border has changed a little over the years! .. .... UPDATE: this mold is not in use anymore, has not been used to make chips in some 20 years. It was donated to the Nevada Historical Society and is on display there.	$2.00
MD-33		24 SUITS -- spade, heart, club and diamond, repeated six times. This is the closest chip I have found that might be Bill Borland's mold #17, which has the same number of suits in the same order. ... ... The "DAM" chips I have, all have flecks of "gold" imbedded in, or printed on, the surface of the ends of the chips (so can't see this in the photo on the left). They were probably put there for decoration, not like the very tiny brass or lead filings put in many chips for weight. ... ... .... Rare mold, but who cares? Not found on casino chips; probably used for private poker chips. .........I have for sale (1) the chip pictured on the left -- gray; 25 cents on the reverse; and (2) a blue chip -- DAM on one side, 10 cents on the reverse.	$3.00
MD-34		SPADES (a/k/a Lazy Spades) -- 9 spades. Rare mold. Borland's mold #14. Not used for casinos, rather for poker chips for private use (home games, Elks clubs, etc.). No Nevada casinos ever used this mold...... .... ..... I just noticed (Sept. 2003) an original box of 100 of these chips on eBay. They were made by Pacific Game Co., Inc. There was a 1981 price tag ($34.99). The box touted "Casino Clay-type Gaming Chips as used at world famous casinos..... available in 8 colors." ...............I have chips of this mold design, in red, white and blue, for sale; however, they are plain -- they have no hot-stamp image.	$3.00
MD-35		16 SUITS -- spade, heart, club and diamond, repeated four times. This is the closest I have found to Borland's mold #16 -- the same number of suits in the same order. Rare, but just a plastic poker chip. Roy Klein has the same chips (but with a clear center), also with a small circular "c", and says they were sold by " Custom Games" out of California in 1981. The blank center was used for an imprint; just now (Jan. 2, 2001) I won at eBay this same blue chip with the imprint BPOE 1554 and picture of an elk!......The chip for sale here is the blank blue one pictured to the left.	$3.00
MD-36		SUITS by BUD JONES (inlaid) A sample of one of the many Bud Jones Co. (1965 to present), Las Vegas NV, plastic-nylon chips with card suits (pips) INLAID on the rim. 1970's-present (?). The chip pictured has 4 suits on the rim, so the mold is called 4SUITS; others have 6 or 8 suits. Some come with a metal coin inlay (1971 to present). Note, again, that the suits on the rim are inlaid, not embossed......... .... Bud Jones is now a brand name of Gaming Partners International USA, or GPI USA. Bud Jones does not exist anymore as a company. It and Paul-son were bought by the large french gambling supply house, Bourgogne et Grasset. For a while the merged company was called Paul-son, but now it is called Gaming Partners International. Click here for more information about the merger. And click here for an interesting web page that shows the variation in Bud Jones chips (size, color, etc.) today...The chip pictured is for sale. It is from the now-defunct Embajador, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.	$4.00
MD-36a		SUITS by BUD JONES(embossed suits) See what is written above for MD-36. Here the suit pips are embossed, not inlaid. This one would be called 8SUITS. Interesting that the sequence of the suits do not repeat themselves -- heart, club, diamond, spade is followed by club, heart, spade, diamond! .... ...... For sale for $3 is $25.00 green generic chip, mint.	$3.00
MD-36b		SUITS by BUD JONES 12 inlaid suits, plastic-nylon chip with decal inlay. See what is written above for MD-36 and MD-36a. I suppose this would be called 12SUITS. I put the chip here to illustrate another type of suits mold. Here the suits are in clusters. (Don't call the motel, which used to be across the street and somewhat south of the old Aladdin; both are now gone.)
MD-36c		LEFT ON TOP (LOT) - RIGHT ON TOP (ROT) DIAMOND VARIATIONS. (Actually, they are mirror images of each other.) The scan on the left is from Dick Covington, who tells me that Pete Porro discovered this variation a few years ago. If you click here you will see Dick Covington's graphic explanation of the variation. If you click here you will see Pete Porro's scan of two identical chips, except for the LOT-ROT difference. Incidentally, the diamond in MD-36, above, is LOT, and the diamond in MD-36b, above, is ROT. ( LOT and ROT, by the way, are just mirror images of each other.)
MD-37		HORSESHOE, CLOVER AND PIPS -- a horseshoe, a clover, and 8 pips. Interesting mold. I always wanted one and was greatly disappointed when I finally obtained it (this one). Very flimsy plastic, as light as a chip could be! Unknown makers/distributors.
MD-38		8 SUITS -- heart, club. diamond and spade, repeated twice. This is a nothing chip -- made of a hard plastic. I include it here because it matched Bill Borland's #15 mold design so well, and I couldn't find another chip like it, only some with a dashed ring around the center. This chip (and Borland's) does not have that dashed ring...........I have this chip in red, white, blue and yellow.	$3.00
MD-38a		Will add more info soon.
MD-38b		SUITS (4), THE -- Called "The Suits" mold by the owner of the mold: 4 suits and a broken circle. It is a clay chip, as are all the other chips on this site, unless I say otherwise. The mold is owned now by Nevada Jacks Co. (who purchased it in 2001 from the original owner, who created it in the late 1990's), and manufactured now by The Blue Chip Co, North Las Vegas NV. Originally the chips were made by Atlantic Molding, and some of the first chips were used by Barona Casino (click here to see a Barona chip) which opened in the 1990's. I have also seen a 25� purple hot-stamped Gold Country Casino, Oroville CA, chip with the mold design. The mold has had a limited use in card rooms. It is used exclusively now (Aug. 2005) for home poker chip sets sold by Holdem Poker Chips.com . One of their stock poker chips is pictured at the left (I scored the embossed mold design with a pencil so it would be easier to see). It is used solely for Holdem Poker Chips home sets; it is not used today for casinos and clubs. You may buy a sample $25000 chip here (and a full set at Holdem Poker Chips web site).	$2.00
MD-38c		4 SUITS AND HAT/CANE, repeated four times. High-quality, 10 gram chip (introduced relatively recently) made by Paulson mainly for non-casino licensed games such as at private clubs and home games. A poker player tells me he purchased a set with this mold from Apache Poker Chips in October 2006 for private home use. Click here for a larger picture.
MD-38d		16 CLUBS -- Each club is shiny, like the top hats in the Christy and Jones mold. This mold is new to me and everyone else I know. The chips are clay composition, same size and weight as other embossed mold chips of the mid 20th century. I discovered it from an internet auction I saw in November 2011, at Picayune, MS. There were several hundred chips (most of them moisture damaged) of this mold, in several colors and with the names "Gerry," "Pleet," and "Mel" on them. Therefore, the mold wasn't a fluke or prototype -- it was actually used for large sets of chips.Click here to see the old chest and the hundreds of Club Mold chips I discovered. Click here for a larger picture of the four different chips I have of this mold. I'd appreciate any information on this mold. .... ....... I I have the four chips for sale here at $3 per chip.	$3.00

CHAIN LINKS APPEAR IN MOLD DESIGNS

Number	Picture	Details	Price
MD-39		CHAIN LINKS 16 RAISED AND OVAL -- Hunt & Co., Chicago IL. None of the four chain link molds shown on this page were used for licensed Nevada casinos. They were used for illegal clubs and private games........Howdy Herz, who bought the chip records of the company, says this mold was used in the 1930-60 period and was manufactured in-house by Hunt & Co., as were the other chips on this page. I found it pictured in just one of many Hunt catalogs I own -- dated 1954.............Incidentally, the Hunt Co. also used their chain link rim design on checkers and backgammon pieces. The ones pictured in this link are 1/4" thick and have 12 and 14 links........If you wish to identify chips that have any of the chain link molds, I encourage you to buy "Howdy's Guide to Hunt & Co."by Howard W. Herz. It has almost 1000 Hunt mold chips pictured in alphabetical order, and is worth the $53.00 price. Either email him at chipmaster@chipmaster.com or write him at PO Box 1000, Minden NV 89423...........I very rarely come across chips of this mold. Recently I purchased a box of these (unidentified) "A.L.E." chips. The chip is identified in "Howdy's Guide to Hunt and Co." (compiled from the chip samples and records of Hunt & Co.) as being shipped to the Vista Sandwich Shop, Vista CA, in 1935.	$3.00
MD-40		CHAIN LINKS 20 FLAT (INCUSED) AND OVAL -- Hunt & Co., Chicago IL. This appears to be the most common Chain Link chip. I have found it in catalogs from the 1930's to the 1950's, and Howdy Herz dates them 1930-60. ........... The chip being sold here has been identified in "Howdy's Guide to Hunt & Co." (compiled from the chip samples and records of Hunt & Co.) as having been sold/shipped to Garfield Cafe, 1126 Garfield St., Middletown OH, in 1944.	$4.00
MD-41		CHAIN LINKS 24 FLAT AND SQUARED -- Hunt & Co., Chicago IL ? This is Bill Borland's mold design #52. It is one of the three Borland molds, in his Blue Book, that I was missing, till November 2002 when Keith Reeves came up with and sold me some..... .... .... So I now have these blank ones for sale in white and yellow.	$8.00
MD-42		CHAIN LINKS 16 RAISED AND SQUARED -- Hunt & Co., Chicago IL. I found this mold listed in a 1954 Hunt catalog. The mold is rarely seen. I happen to have a Hunt shipping order envelope with a sample chip inside, dated 1950. (Apparently, they used these envelopes for their records rather than the usual index cards used by other gambling supply distributors.) Howdy Herz dates the use of this mold, 1940-60. (This mold design is not listed in Borland's Blue Book.; the other three, above, are.)

GEOMETRIC IMAGES (SQUARES, RECTANGLES, DIAMONDS, DOTS, CIRCLES, STARS AND TRIANGLES) APPEAR IN MOLD DESIGNS

Number	Picture	Details	Price
MD-44		HUB -- 25 vertical rectangles. 1928-1956. Mason & Co., Newark NJ and other locations. In their heyday they were perhaps the largest chip distributor in the country. (I know that they were selling hub mold poker chips through the early 1990's, at least, from their Chicago headquarters. I had written them. Their catalog/price list was very primitive then. They are out of business now.). There are at lease two distinctive versions of this mold, as Jim Follis reminded me. This is not surprising since the mold has been made over such a long period of time. Click here to see a picture of each variety. The two chips are the same size, but; � orange chip -- rectangle hubs (90 degree corners) -- the two incised circles are 24 mm and 33 mm. � yellow chip -- trapezoid hubs -- the two circles are 26 mm and 35 mm............The sample on the left is for sale. We know it was shipped to a particular address in Geneva NY in 1936, but it is not attributed to a particular club, I believe.	$3.00
MD-45		LARGE SQUARES (LGSQUR) -- 24 alternating horizontal and vertical rectangles (so why do they call it large squares?). 1932 (per Al Kleindienst)-1987 (per Gene Trimble). Jones Bros., New Orleans, LA. Most of their chips went to the New Orleans area, the remainder mostly going to nearby Southern states.......If you have one of these chips to identify, you might want to write Allan Myers (myersmyers@insightbb.com, or PO Box 17002, Louisville KY 40217), who has much of the old chip hot-stamp imprint-shipping records of Jones Brothers....The sample on the left is plain (no imprint).	$2.00
MD-46		RECTANGLES (RECTL), 19 -- 19 rectangles (look like DASHES to me, but collectors have been calling it RECTANGLES) that stand out in relief. 1940's-1960. Not much is known about this mold and not seen very often, but recently (November 2003) Terry Shaffer found a box of chips with this mold from Langworthy and Co., Detroit, Michigan (later they moved to Las Vegas). The printing on the box matched the chips, so we know at least this one distributor of these chips........The SDC chip pictured here is NOT for sale; no more left. I do have the mold chip for sale with other letters: HAZ in purple and HPH in red and green.	$4.00
MD-47		RECTANGLES, 20 -- 20 recessed rectangles (or DASHES). Unknown..............I have for sale some samples that are yellow with no inscription, $3.00 each.	$3.00
MD-48		SMALL AND LARGE RECTANGLES (a/k/a SQUARE-SQUARE-RECTANGLE [SQSQRT])-- a long rectangle and 2 small rectangles, repeated eight times. Bill Borland, in his Blue Book, attributes it to T. R. King Co., Los Angeles CA, and Bill Blanchard attributes it to Pacific Club Co...........The sample on the left is for sale. The reverse side says "Good for Trade Only." It is from a well known men's club that had gambling, in the heart of downtown Portland OR. It was started in 1934 and closed in 1973. (The "Good for Trade Only" inscription was to protect the place in case of a police raid; the chips could be called mere "commercial tokens.")	$4.00
MD-49		DIAMONDS (a/k/a RADIAL DIAMONDS) -- 26 diamonds. Most famous period was with the Jack Todd Co., Kansas City MO, 1933-1950, when Todd was killed. Very popular mold in its heyday. The mold has been used since in various forms and compositions. Some make a distinction between the slight difference in the size of the diamonds..........The sample sold here is worn. I was not sure if it is "UB" or "VB." It is somewhat similar to the monogram on the Owl Club, Eureka, Nevada, chips. The chip is machined (many circles like a phonograph). But it has been ID'ed by Steve Goodrich in his Montana book. It is: UB (Ulm Bar), PO Box 248, Ulm, Mt -- 1940's.	$4.00
MD-50		DIAMONDS AND SQUARES (DIASQR) -- diamond and square (hub), repeated 13 times. 1941-1960's; not used today, but chips were made for non-casino use until about 1990. This "diamond-square" mold was always owned by the manufacturer, the venerable Burt Co., and now by its successor, Atlantic Molding -- both of Portland, Maine. This mold has been distributed by Hunt & Co., Chicago; Code & Co., Chicago; Portland Card Co., Portland OR, which called it their "Diamond Square" check; Noll & Co., Pasadena CA; White's Club Room Equip., Cincinnati OH (advertising chips on this mold: "White's Super Checks") and Pioneer Club Supply, San Francisco CA. It is a good example of an "open mold" -- one sold by the manufacturer to many distributors, and, thus, is not "protected." .. .... ..... As of October 2015, the mold is still being produced in Maine at Classic Poker Chips company, a company that took over from Atlantic Standard Molding in 2013-2014. All their molds can be seenhere. The mold is licensed for use in Nevada as of 2014 onwards.	$3.00
MD-51		DIAMOND-SQUARE-SQUARE (DISQSQ) (or SQUARE-SQUARE-DIAMOND [SQSQDI]) -- a diamond and two squares (hubs), repeated 8 times. The story on this mold is similar to MD-50, above. It was owned by the Burt Co., and is now owned (but not currently used) by its successor, Atlantic Molding. They called it the "2 square-diamond" mold. Until about 1990 it was used by some foreign casinos. In its heydays it was used by Code and Co., Chicago IL; and San Francisco Card Co............For sale here are two inlaid chips in mint condition: (1) the one on the left; the reverse side says $1; and (2) the same chip in purple with $5 on the reverse. .. ..... UPDATE: this mold is not in use anymore, has not been used to make chips in some 20 years. It was donated to the Nevada Historical Society and is on display there.	$3.00
MD-52		SQUARE IN CIRCLE -- a square in a circle, repeated 16 times. 1948-present. Portland Card Co., Portland OR. and Penn Specialty Co. Atlantic Standard Molding, Inc., Portland ME, has the mold for sale on its web site the last time I looked (Oct. 2000)..........The chip at the left is for sale here. BPOE Elks Club lodge #1413 is in Corvallis OR. The reverse side of the chip refers to the 1950 state convention there. ... ..... As of October 2015, the mold is still being produced in Maine at Classic Poker Chips company, a company that took over from Atlantic Standard Molding in 2013-2014. All their molds can be seenhere. The mold is licensed for use in Nevada as of 2014 onwards.	$5.00
MD-53		LAZY DIAMONDS -- 10 elongated diamonds. 1940's-? White's Card Room Equipment Co., Cincinnati OH; Rigdon and Co., Cincinnati OH (they referred to it as "'Lazy Diamond' Registered Monogram Checks" -- $75 per 1000); and Herman Baron and Co., NYC (in 1960 and 1965 catalogs I own; they say "The design is non-duplicate, exclusive with us..."). I also have an Arthur Popper Games, Inc., NYC, catalog (1940's-1950's) that also hails it as their "non-duplicate, exclusuve... ... Protection Check."............I have chips of this mold for sale here -- white, green, brown, black and red.	$3.00
MD-54		TRIANGLES -- 24 triangles alternately pointing in and out. A.E. Schmidt Company, Saint Louis MO........I have samples of the chip on the left for sale here -- 10 cents on one side, "JB" on the reverse.	$4.00
MD-55		DOTS -- 25 dots. 1930-1946. White's Club Room Equipment Co., Cincinnati OH (they had advertising chips on this mold: "White's Super Checks")........I have the chip on the left for sale in both green and blue	$3.00
MD-55a		DOTS (16) -- 8 dots increasing in size, repeated twice; between 2 circles. Gene Trimble found this at Marion and Co., which in turn obtained it from the Burt Co. (1920's-1988), manufacturer. Rarely used mold, but Mark Lighterman has a hot-stamped chip of this mold, so at least some were commercially used.
MD-56		TRI-BAL (a/k/a 3 DOTS & DASH, and TREY-BALL) -- 3 balls and a long dash, repeated four times. 1929-1939. Joe Treybal Sporting Goods Company, St. Louis MO.	$3.00
MD-57		STARS (18) -- 18 stars. Rare mold, rarely used. The club on the chip pictured was in the New Orleans area, 1940's-1950's.
MD-57a		STARS (16) -- 16 stars. New to me. Scan supplied by Dick Covington. I was told (May 2006) that "This is a 100% plastic chip, probably weighs only 2 or 3 grams. It is not a clay chip mold. " I just received one (thanks to Andrew Bundschuh). It is not the typical light plastic chip; rather, it makes a dense sound when it hits the table. Seems to be a plastic-nylon chips with 4 injection mold circles on one side.
MD-57b		STARS (8) -- 8 embossed/incused stars. New to me. Chip supplied by Jerry Birl. The chip is injection molded nylon-like, so must be of recent origin........ The inscription on the chip to the left reads "Christchurch Casino...Training Chip Only...$1." According to "The Gaming Table," the casino is in the town of Christchurch, New Zealand, opened 1994, still open.
MD-58		TUMBLING SQUARES (a/k/a SMALL SQUARES) -- 18 alternating position squares. This is Bill Borland's mold #22, in his Blue Book. It is one of three of his molds that I don't own and had never seen till October 2011, but in November 2011 I did get one, a blue one like the one pictured on the left. It is plastic! The dealer had only 2 of them. Borland says "manufacturer unknown." ... ..... In October 2011, Roy Klein found the only known example of this mold, finally. Click here to see a sketch of the mold. It is apparently a plastic chip. Roy describes it as, "This particular chip has an unusual punched out 1808 design and is from an Elks lodge in Auburn, Washington. I have no other information on the chip and no extras. .. .... It appears to have the remnants of an injection nib on the edge. So I guess it is an injection molded chip. It seems to me to be a plastic/clay composition mix. I had never seen this mold before." ... ..... I have the chip for sale in yellow and blue --BPOE 1808.	$10.00
MD-59		TRAPEZOIDS (8) -- 8 trapezoids around the rim -- 4, small; 4 large; in alternating order. For a larger picture of the chip click here . Poor picture at this link, but it shows the injection nipple clearly on the edges (one nipple on each chip), so they are injection molded chips. In that picture, the top chip was broken in half to examine the insides, which look composition-like. This chip is from a casino in Sweeden. One collector has other chips from that casino with that mold, from the early 1980's, she says. I have no information on the distributor/manufacturer. I'd appreciate some help.	$5.00

PLANTS (FLOWERS) AND ANIMALS (JOCKEYS, HORSES, UNICORNS, MERMAIDS, DRAGONS, AND ELEPHANTS) IN THE MOLD DESIGNS

Number	Picture	Details	Price
MD-65		HORSE HEAD RIGHT (HHR) -- 16 horse heads looking to the viewer's right. (Another way of putting it is that you see the right side of the horse's head.) 1965-present. Langworthy & Co., Las Vegas NV; Wico Gaming Supply, Las Vegas (1994-1996); Gambler's General Store, Las Vegas NV; and Atlantic Standard Molding, Portland ME, uses it now; ..............On the chip to the left, which is for sale here, I applied soap to the recessed embossed horse heads for scanning purposes. The Paradise Theater was in Aspen CO. about the early 1990's. I believe the club featured low-stake fun gambling for drinks, etc. Currently at the location is the Double Diamond night club, which features live music bands. The chips are in excellent condition; somehow the "Aspen" imprint did not scan well. .. .... As of October 2015, the mold is still being produced in Maine at Classic Poker Chips company, a company that took over from Atlantic Standard Molding in 2013-2014. All their molds can be seen here. The mold is licensed for use in Nevada as of 2014 onwards....	$5.00
MD-66		HORSE HEAD LEFT (HHL) -- 16 horse heads looking left. 1950's-1965. Bill Borland's Blue Book cites Paul-son & Co., Las Vegas NV; and C. W. Rice Co., Walnut Creek CA, as distributors. (Gene Trimble notes, "Bud Jones told me this was his mold sold mostly in CA. Would have been sold by him in the Cristy Jones days.") ... ... UPDATE: this mold is not in use anymore, has not been used to make chips in some 20 years. It was donated to the Nevada Historical Society and is on display there.	$6.00
MD-67		UNICORN -- 8 unicorns. Recent mold; unsure of the dates; still in use. This is an open mold made in the U.S. and recently abroad. Marion & Co., North Miami FL, Chipco Int'l, Windham ME, and a host of other places.	$2.00
MD-68		ELEPHANT HEAD AND CROWN -- elephant head and crown, repeated four times. 1980's-present. Marion & Co., North Miami FL has exclusive use of the mold. The mold is used primarily in casinos outside of the U.S., and for private games throughout the world............The inlaid chip on the left, I scored the surface with pencil so the scan would show the recessed design. The chip is currently being used at a club, so it is not for sale. ... .. .... However, I have chips from Minnesota Fats NYC that once rented and sold gaming paraphernalia such as craps tables, slot machines, backgammon, pool and billiard equipment--even jukeboxes. Out of business now. I would sell those for $5 per chip. ... ..... These obsolete chips (HUD [Hudson Valley Club] and Deer Hunting Lodge, Vermont) I'd sell for $3.00 each.	$3.00
MD-69		DRAGON -- 4 dragons. Recent mold, still in use. Flimsy, light (4 grams) plastic, yet the center can be hot-stamped with an image. The chip is offered today by many gambling supply houses as an inexpensive alternative to their standard chips. The Dragon chips (and the Mermaid and diamond plastic chips) are suggested for promotional chips, infrequent home games and Las Vegas nights, etc. Gamblers General Store, Las Vegas; Poker Store, Stanton CA; Summit, Colorado Springs CO; R.T.Plastics of Nevada, Las Vegas NV, and Bill Borland's World-Wide Casino Exchange, Las Vegas (now defunct) are just some of the places that sell these chips..............I have samples, like on the left, for sale here in these colors: red, green, black, white and yellow.	$2.00
MD-70		JOCKEYS -- 9 jockeys crouched in racing position, holding a riding crop. John Huxley and Co., London, England. Not used in U. S. casinos. Borland says it is popular in European casinos, although I have a "Regent & Huxley Casino Equipment, Atlantic City, U.S.A." advertising chip of this mold design. The chip on the left is in Lesotho, an independent kingdom and enclave in South Africa. ... ..... ...... I have for sale some used chips with this mold. They have new stickers on them that say "Eclipse Casinos" and either 25 or 100 on them. Identified as from: Mobile fun night casino, based in Southampton, UK. Click here for a picture of them. $5.00 each. As of October 2015, the mold is still being produced in Maine at Classic Poker Chips company, a company that took over from Atlantic Standard Molding in 2013-2014. All their molds can be seen here. The mold is licensed for use in Nevada as of 2014 onwards.	$5.00
MD-71		MERMAIDS -- 4 mermaids reclining. Recent mold, still in use. Made by RT Plastics in Las Vegas. In 2004, I noticed this variation at the Gamblers General Store in Las Vegas. It is the chip on the right here. (Note the inside circle and the elongated small circles.) The comments in MD-69 Dragons, above, apply here, except that the Mermaid chips are more substantial 7 gram chips, are injection molded, but have a more clay-like feel..........The red chip at the left (Gulf Coast Dealers School) is for sale here.	$4.00
MD-72		FLOWERS -- flower with stem, repeated 12 times. c.1940-c. 2004. George & Co., Buffalo NY. They have apparently moved to Naples, Florida, and just sell dice now.Click here to see their new web site. ............The chip pictured, for sale here, is unattributed.	$3.00
MD-73		DOLHPINS -- a dolphin, repeated 4 times. Relatively modern 21st century chip. Injection molded, but it is probably of a nylon composition (not the usual plastic); fairly heavy; makes a nice dull thud when it bounces on a table. I don't know who makes or owns the mold. The chip pictured is from Jim Follis. The Arizona Club was an Indian casino in that state. ....... ........ ........ I have plain (no hot-stamp) samples of the chip for sale in brown and gray.	$14.00
MD-74		CLOVER -- 6 embossed clovers around the rim. The chip is made by thethe French-owned Bourgogne et Grasset. Appreciate comments as to how long the mold has been made. It has become a widespread, �B et G� standard nylon hotstamp chip often used for low denominations. It is reported, by Greg Susong, that the chip was used as early as 1997 around the world, oustside of the U.S.: Cambodia, Canada, Spain and Belgium. I thankRoss Poppel for the scan. ... .... ...... I have examples of this mold for sale. Click here to see the chip: 5 Kronor chip of the Casino Monte Carlo. Stockholm, Sweeden, which closed about 1994. Until then it was one of Sweden's oldest and most traditional gaming places, with slot machines and casino tables operating since the early 1970's.	$4.00

MANMADE OBJECTS (HATS, CROWNS, HORSESHOES HOURGLASSES AND HARPS) IN MOLD DESIGNS

Number	Picture	Details	Price
MD-75		HAT (NO CANE) -- 8 top hats. You can see the injection mold circle inside the top hat in the picture to the left. Not used for casino chips, for sure. I put the entry here in case anyone would ever mistake these for MD-76 and MD-77 just below.......... ............. I have the chips in red, blue and white for sale.	$3.00
MD-76		HAT AND CANE, SHORT CANE VERSION (H&C- SCV) -- Top hat with cane, repeated 8 times (also see MD-76a, 76b and 77, below). 1965-present. Paul-son Gaming Supplies, Las Vegas NV. By far, the Paul-son hat and canes are the most used chip mold in Nevada and the world. On this page I show three major varieties of the Paulson hat & cane rim mold. In MD-76, the cane is relatively short (about 7.5 mm long) and the triangular area formed by the bottom of the cane and the left side of the hat and brim is rather small; also the bottom of the cane appears to end lower than the brim line. (The blue chip shown here is from the California Hotel, Las Vegas NV.). I recommend you visit Greg Susong's fine page about these variations and other interesting chip information. I scanned the orange chip on the left because its soiled nature highlights the embossed hat and cane design. It is, of course, a roulette chip from the famous Nevada casino. I have it for sale in many colors -- peach, orange, brown, blue, yellow and red.	$4.00
MD-76a		HAT AND CANE, LONG CANE VERSION (H&C-LCV) -- Top hat and cane repeated 8 times. 1964 - present. Paul-son Gaming Supplies, Las Vegas NV. This is the second variant of the H&C mold, called LCV (long cane version). Compared to MD-76 above, this one has a long cane (about 9 mm long), and there is a comparatively large area between the bottom of the cane and the left side of the hat and brim (see the arrows in MD-76 and MD-76a). Additionally, the lower end of the cane does not seem to go below the hat brim line. It is my suspicion that many individual chip runs were done using both molds (76 and 76a)...... ... .....In 2002 the French-owned Bourgogne et Grasset, a major gambling supply house outside of the U.S., purchased Paulson and Bud Jones companies. Paul-son is now a division of the French-owned Gaming Partners International Corporation, abbreviated GPI Corp, the result of the merger of Bourgogne et Grasset, The Bud Jones Company and Paul-Son Gaming Supplies, Inc under the leadership of B&G. Gaming Partners International Corporation, previously known as Paul-Son Gaming Supplies Corporation, has their head office in Las Vegas. At the same time, the two subsidiaries, Paul-Son Gaming Supplies, Inc. and Bourgogne et Grasset have become respectively Gaming Partners International USA, abbreviated GPI, USA and Gaming Partners International, SAS, abbreviated GPI, SAS. The group concentrates on products that are very sensitive to casinos, particularly chips and plaques but also dice, wheels, cards and associated products such as layouts and gaming tables. For an informative web page devoted to the Paul-son division, with links to its types of chips (colors, sizes, etc.), click here And click here for a pdf file on GPI USA, which includes much information on their Paulson, Bud Jones and B&G brand chips. ......I scanned a particularly soiled chip to highlight the mold design.
MD-76b		HAT AND CANE (ALTERNATING DIRECTIONS) -- top hat and cane repeated 8 times -- 6 of the hat-canes have the cane handle on the right, and 2 of the hat-canes have the cane handle on the left. That is, two pair (which happen to be the top and bottom pair on the chip to the left, which was scored with pencil to highlight the mold) have their cane handles facing each other. Another major difference, among others, is that there is no outer ring (between the embossed hats/canes and the edge of the chip) as there is with MD-76 and MD-76a, above. Click here and here for bigger pictures. ......This new rim mold design was probably done to accommodate Paul-son's new wide graphic and full graphic inlaid chips, which Paul-son began making in 1993. Nowadays, most new Paul-son chips, especially the commemorative/limited edition ones, seem to have this rim mold. .. .... ....... I'm limiting these pages to vintage molds, but Lee H. O'Dell sent me this interesting new Paulson mold chip, in January 2011 -- a Bally's, Las Vegas, "no cash value" chip with 8 hats & canes -- 7 have the cane handle on the right, and 1 has it on the left -- click here to see it. The mold is only known on non-cash value chips, some being at Sam's Town, Tunica, MS, too.
MD-76c		HAT AND CANE (INVERTED) -- 8 repetitions of inverted hat and cane, that is, the brim of the hat faces the edge of the chip; in all the other molds here, the brim faces the inner circle. Made about 1990 to present, by Paul-son Gaming Supplies, Las Vegas NV. Both chips to the left are actually 1-3/4" wide, and these inverted H&C chips are only used on such large baccarat-style chips............... Thanks to Don Lueders, who supplied the NOP chip. ... ... ...... I just acquired a number of the Winner Club chips and will sell them for $13 each. For scanning purposes, I applied a white pencil around the recessed hat-and-canes. Click here and here to see other scans of the Winner chip. In small print under the 1000 is "this chip for amusement only." The Winner Club chips were made for a junket operator running junkets to The North Korean Free Trade Zone, casinos. The chips were never picked up. The inlay gives off a hologram-like 3-D effect.	$13.00
MD-77		HAT AND CANE (H&C CJ) -- top hat and cane, repeated 8 times. 1955-1965. Christy & Jones Co., Las Vegas NV. This H&C mold is very similar to the one above, MD-76. One difference is that the Paul-son H&C (for quite a while) was about 7 mm long while the CJ (Christy & Jones) H&C is about 9 mm long; the CJ ones have slightly taller hats, too. Unlike the Paul-son one, the CJ one usually has a shiny inside to the hat and a metal pellet inside the chip (X-ray it or take it apart)......Edge spots are another way to distinguish CJ chips from Paulson ones. The CJ edge spots have neat, smooth borders; the Paulson ones (but not the modern full and wide graphic ones -- see MD-76b, above) tend to be sloppy/uneven. The Paulson ones have convex ends, while the CJ ones are either straight, or --if the edge spots are a half inch or wider-- concave. Click here to see a longer, pictorial explanation of the edge spot differences .......The "21 Club" chip pictured is unattributed.	$5.00
MD-78		SMALL CROWN (SCROWN) -- a small crown and a small dash, repeated 12 times. 1950-present (1950-1978 in Nevada). T. R. King Co., Los Angeles CA, now at 400 West Pico Blvd., started business in 1922. Click here for their web site. Both the small and large crown chips are used mostly in California..........The chip pictured here is supposedly from England. Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, is known as the Prince of Wales, a title used by a long line of Royals. I'm not suggesting anyone important owned these chips, just that the "Prince of Wales" crest is the design on the chips, and it is a popular, well-known design in both Britain and the U.S.	$3.00
MD-79		LARGE CROWN (LCROWN) -- a large crown and a large dash, repeated 4 times. 1938-1967. T. R. King Co., Los Angeles CA. (More info about T.R. King above at MD-78.) .......I have the "JAY" chips for sale here. They are worn and have glue on one side. I have them in red, yellow, black and blue.	$3.00
MD-80		HOUR GLASS (HRGLASS) -- 30 hourglasses. 1940's-1950's? Rigdon & Co., Cincinnati OH. The mold was used mainly for illegal clubs in that part of the country -- Kentucky, Ohio, etc...........The chip for sale is unattributed. It is "fortunately" soiled, so you can easily see the recessed hourglasses.	$3.00
MD-80a		NEW HOURGLASS -- new hourglass mold from Atlantic Molding to replace the old hourglass mold.. Same 30 hourglasses, but only one ring. Used about 1980 to early 1990's. The mold was made for Doubling Cube Co., NYC, about 1980. Later the mold was sold, I believe to Duro Sales, Inc., Deer Park NY. I have seen the mold chips in a 1990 brochure of Duro Sales. It is doubtful that the chips were used in casinos. I don't know who owns the mold now or whether it is being used today. .. ..... As of October 2015, the mold is still being produced in Maine at Classic Poker Chips company, a company that took over from Atlantic Standard Molding in 2013-2014. All their molds can be seenhere. The mold is licensed for use in Nevada as of 2014 onwards.
MD-81		HARP -- 24 harp designs. 1930's-1950's? Taylor & Co., Chicago IL. Chips of this mold have been used for a lot of illegal clubs in middle America............This chip pictured here has been traced to the Taylor Co. records -- its from the 39 Club, 802 E. 39 St., Chicago ILL. 2600 yelow chips were ordered March 26, 1941.	$6.00
MD-82		HORSESHOES -- 16 horseshoes, alternately pointing in and out. 1952-early 2000's. T. K. Specialty Co., Reno NV. They just make dice now. TK was sold to Bourgogne and Grasset, mainly for T.K.'s dice business. So B&G owns the horseshoe mold now, but will probably never use it!.... ..... The wagon wheel chip to the left is from Harvey's Casino, Lake Tahoe, Nevada, c. 1960's (N4434). It's from the first issue of their roulette chips.	$8.00
MD-83		CANDELABRA (better known now as Trident mold) -- 12 candelabras. Used in Europe. Stakis Casinos are in England and Scotland........Soap was applied to the embossed candelabras to highlight them for scanning purposes. ..... In October 2011, the people at Palm Gaming International told me, "the trident or candelabra mold is currently owned by [the] former owner of TCS Huxley. [He] resides in England ... .... this mold is in storage for him at our daytona beach facility until either we buy it or he finds a new home for it." UPDATE: Classic Poker Chips company bought this from Jeff Lindsay and donated the mold to Nevada Historical Society. ... .... Thanks to Jeff B's observation, it looks like this mold had almost exclusively been used by the casinos of the Stakis group, and it is a logo of that group, so it can be considered a "house mold" now (look here ).

MISCELLANEOUS DESIGNS IN MOLD DESIGNS
(INCLUDES SOME HARD-TO-RECOGNIZE MOLD DESIGNS INCLUDED IN PRIOR CATEGORIES THAT ARE REPEATED ON THIS PAGE)

Number	Picture	Details	Price
MD-86		PLAIN MOLD -- the rim mold is plain/flat/not embossed. c. 1890-present. As for casino and club chips, very few of the plain rim chips were hot-stamped; virtually all had round litho inlays like the one pictured here. They could be called "crest and seal" chips.........The chip pictured at the left is for sale here as a plain mold chip. It was used at the Traversi Hotel, Sacramento CA, which opened 1916 and closed 1940. As of October 2015, the mold is still being produced in Maine at Classic Poker Chips company, a company that took over from Atlantic Standard Molding in 2013-2014. All their molds can be seenhere. The mold is licensed for use in Nevada as of 2014 onwards.	$5.00
MD-86a		PAULSON PLAIN MOLD -- the rim mold is flat/plain/not embossed. Like many other casino chips, the center is slightly recessed. The first Paulson Plain Mold chip I ever saw was from Gene Trimble, who gave me one of his personal "business card" chips with this mold. Gene's chip is a 2003 chip of the Paulson division of GPI USA. Gene tells me he first saw the mold on a Paulson and Son sample chip in 2001, and that it has been used in casinos, though very infrequently I would suspect. It is mainly used for "no cash value" chips, so as not to compromise the security use of the hat-and-cane rim mold casino (money) chips. Thus, they are used as specialty chips, gift sets, business card chips and other NCV chips. Here is one of them that is 1-9/16," only one I have; not for sale.... ... .... The green chip on the left is for sale here as a sample of the mold. The chip is a huge 1-7/8"! In small print under the 10,000 is "this chip for amusement only." The Winner Club chips were made for a junket operator running junkets to The North Korean Free Trade Zone, casinos. The chips were never picked up.	$7.00
MD-87		SMALL KEY (SM-KEY) (a/k/a SMALL GREEK KEY) -- greek key design, repeated 30 times. B. C. Wills & Co., Detroit MI and Reno NV, which made these chips from 1937-1965. No order/production records exist for the imprints. (I have Wills advertising chips on this mold, which exclaimed "Wills Gem Checks.") ........ As Don Lueders pointed out, a small percent of these small key chips are machined (chip has small grooves like on a phonograph record). Click here to see one example. ......... Click here to see a recently made plastic version of the Small Key mold (manufacturer unknown)......... In 1990 I received catalogs and samples from these two small companies that offered small-key chips -- C-A Specialty Co., Phoenix AZ, and The Poker Store, Stanton CA. .............The sample on the left is for sale. One side says "O'Connor." The reverse side says "Trade Only." It is from a well known men's club that had gambling, in the heart of downtown Portland OR. It was started in 1934 and closed in 1973. (The "Trade Only" inscription was to protect the place in case of a police raid; the chips could be called mere "commercial tokens.")	$3.00
MD_88		LARGE KEY (LG-KEY) (a/k/a LARGE GREEK KEY) -- greek key design, repeated 15 times. B. C. Wills & Co., Detroit MI and Reno NV, which made these chips from 1962 or '64-1980's. At least one other place offered it recently. In 1990 The Poker Store, Stanton CA, sent me samples...........I have for sale Harrah's Reno 1963 roulette chips, white and green clay. The green ones have the inlay on one side damaged some. Click here for a picture of the Harrah's Reno inlaid roulette chip . Price is $6. ...... ...... ...... The "Expertise International" chip, pictured to the left, is also for sale as a sample. Soap has been applied to the chip to highlight the mold design for the scan. It is from a defunct Sacramento, California, dealing school. $2.00.	$2.00
MD-89		ROMAN (a/k/a ROMAN BORDER, and WEAVE; "Roman" or "Roman border" --not "weave"-- is preferred by Atlantic Molding, the owner of the mold) -- 24 weave designs. 1950's?-present. I have seen the mold in a H. Baron Co., NYC, 1958 catalog. There they described it as their "Non-Duplicate Monogrammed Crap Check." Eventually Bill Borland (World-Wide Casino Exchange, Las Vegas NV) used the mold, but never for Nevada casinos. It was used by Penn Specialty Co., The Poker Store, Stanton CA, and is used today by Atlantic Standard Molding, Portland ME., which has owned it since about 1990, till 2013-14 when Classic Poker Chips company took over Atlantic Standard. Classic Poker Chips owns the mold but is not using it at present. .......The chip on the left is for sale here, in both yellow and dark blue. It is unattributed.	$2.00
MD-90		ZIG ZAG -- 26 repetitions of the zig zag design. 1944-1953. Noll and Co., Pasadena CA.........The chip on the left is for sale here. Unattributed. Soap was put into the recessed mold design for scanning purposes. .... ....... I recently picked upthese nice Denver Basin Petroleum Club chips , which are from a prominent Denver, Colorado, social and business club, which started in 1948. The Denver Petroleum Club has set the standard for private clubs. Most members originally were in the oil and gas business. Today it is a premiere private business and dinning club. Price: $10.00 per chip.	$3.00
MD-91		WEB MOLD -- 20 "diamonds." 1930's to late 1990's, owned exclusively by Ace Sportworks, NYC, and then Marion and Co., NYC and North Miami. Both firms used the Burt Co. to manufacture the chips until about 1995, when the manufacturing was turned over to the Paulson Company until it was acquired by the large French firm,Bourgogne et Grasset/GPI Corp. Chips with this mold were hardly ever used in licensed casinos. Rather the chips were made for illegal clubs (such as Outhwaite's in Saratoga NY) and home games. ........The "NEB" chip pictured on the left is for sale here. Soap was applied to the recessed embossed mold for scanning purposes. I was told the chips were used in N. Wang's Club in the Chinatown section of NYC about 1975.	$4.00
MD-92		CORD -- long rope with 18 ridges. 1940's?-1950's? E. M. O'Neil & Co., Chicago IL...............The chip for sale here is from the 44 Club, Chicago, Ill. I also have it for sale in brown in mint condition, and in yellow in used OK-worn condition.	$4.00
MD-92a		BRAID -- 16 braid knots. This is a little-known mold. In fact, we don't know of any chips with this mold other than this chip, which appears to be an advertising chip from the San Francisco Card Co., a gambling supply distributor.
MD-92b		ROPE -- 11 knots or ridges. Doug Deems brought this to my attention. His picture. Know nothing about it. Click here for another version of this 11-knot chip, brought to my attention by Roy Klein, August 2015.
MD-93		SCROLL -- 10 "S's." Jay Myer Co., London, England; and A. B. P. Casino Supply (per Herz). Used mostly out of the U.S; new chips of this mold are used today (2001), in the Dominican Republic, for example. ... ... .... In Oct. 2010, I received this email from Palm Gaming International of Holly Hill, FL: "Wanted to let you know- we bought Hispania Gaming's [see below] equipment including the scroll mold. We should be adding the 43mm scroll mold to this mold sometime next year. We'll be in production using the scroll mold in 2011 and will be the 4th true casino clay manufacturer out there in addition to Paulson, ASM and BCC [Blue Chip Co.]." To see the chip on their website, click here and here. ... ... In Sept. 2005, I had learned that chips with this mold were being made by a Spanish gambling supply house HISPANIA CASINO EQUIPMENT S.L since at least 1984. They were servicing casinos mainly in Europe and Latin America. Out of business now, I believe. ........ A VARIATION OF THE SCROLL MOLD: click here to see a variation of the scroll mold, on the light-colored chip, which is notched incidentally; the purple one beside it is the common scroll mold we are all familiar with. I'd appreciate it if someone sent me one or more of the variation. .... .....In Sept. 2007,Mats Viking reported another version, which I don't have --click here to see it . Note the way two of the scrolls are incompleted. .... .... ...And click here for a fourth version, courtesy of Mats. ... ... ..... The chip for sale here is coded FN HAR-5 in the "1998 Black's Catalog of Atlantic City Casino Chips and Gaming Tokens." FN means "Fun Night," which is when these "no cash value" chips were used -- for a day or two in 1980 by the public for "practice" at Harrah's so the New Jersey officials could observe the casino staff in operation and approve the official opening of the casino. The chips offered here are in mint condition. ... ...... As of October 2015, the mold is still being produced in Maine at Classic Poker Chips company, a company that took over from Atlantic Standard Molding in 2013-2014.	$5.00
MD-94		SMALL CIRCLES -- machined circles. Hunt & Co., Chicago IL. This mold is, or is close to, Herz' mold #13 (page 19) in his "A Collector's Guide to Nevada Gaming Checks & Chips."	$2.00
MD-95		LARGE & SMALL CIRCLES -- machined circles. Frank Walters Co., Detroit MI. This is Herz' mold #14 (see MD-94, above).	$2.00
MD-96		ZIG ZAG AND CIRCLES This is Bill Borland's mold #57. I started collecting chips in earnest after buying Borland's (1988) .I now see that the same mold with the same name is in Herz' earlier (1985) "Harvey's Guide..." and the later (1995) "A Collector's Guide...." , where it is his mold #15 (page 19)...... I wouldn't really call it an embossed mold. It is more like a hot-stamp design, but perhaps it sufficed as a proprietary design for the unknown distributor, who may have used the zig zag rim on all his chips. Note, too, the machined-like circles in the center of the chip. These circles don't extend to the rim area.......The chip for sale here is unattributed. I thank Ralph Stranwold for finding and selling me these chips. "The Official Blue Book of Casino Chips and Gaming Tokens" (now out of print). I set out collecting each different mold. Recently I obtained this one.	$4.00
MD-97		MONARCH MOLD -- a/k/a RAISCIR (Raised Circle) -- 2 embossed circles and a bulging surface between the circles (sort of like an inner tube of a tire). c. 1900-1950? G. H. Harris Co., Brooklyn NY. Many of these monarch mold chips were made by Hunt and Co. and appear in "Howdy's Guide to Hunt & Co." . There are a number of variations of the Monarch mold. They differ in size and the flatness of the bulge between the two circles (like an inner tube of a tire). Five variations appear on pp. 260-61 of Dale Seymour's "Antique Gambling Chips" (revised edition) book.	$3.00
MD-98		$ MOLD -- 8 dollar signs. This is a pretty solid injection molded chip. I received this chip in 1991. In 1996 The Poker Chip Co,. Torrance CA, had it in their catalog. The chip is of a good weight and it makes a nice thud when it hits the table, but it appears to be injection molded; each chip has the two tell-tale small circles on one side......The mold is being used now (April 2002) for a 50 cent hot-stamped chip at the Spa Tribal Casino, Palm Springs CA., and I have seen it on a $1 chip from CANBERRA Casino AUSTRALIA. ......On the chip at the left I applied a pencil for scanning purposes. I have chips in red, white, blue and black for sale.	$2.00
MD-99		DOUBLE BROKEN CIRCLE -- 2 circles broken 8 times. c. 1976. H. C. Edwards and Co., NYC. (made for them by Gamex, Las Vegas NV). Chips with this mold were made for a short period of time because the design/quality was unsuccessful. For the most part they are clay inlaid chips, except that under the inlay there is a thin metal disc (for weight) and sandwiched between the clay obverse and reverse sides is a thin plastic core!..............For sale here are chips from the Americana, Aruba -- the green $25 one pictured, and a black $100 one. Here is a picture of the chips, also a good view of the plastic core in the center of the chips:click here.	$15.00
MD-100		FLEUR DE' LIS -- 8 fleur de lis (the black edge spots [inserts] "hide" some of them in this scan). Atlantic Molding, Portland ME, the chip manufacturer, created this mold about 1990 and still owns it, as this is written (2001), though no chips of this mold are currently be made. Two one-time distributors of this mold (I own advertising chips on this mold of both firms), are Wico Gaming Supply (c. 1994-1996), and Gamblers General Store -- both in Las Vegas NV. .. ... .... As of October 2015, the mold is still being produced in Maine at Classic Poker Chips company, a company that took over from Atlantic Standard Molding in 2013-2014. All their molds can be seenhere. The mold is licensed for use in Nevada as of 2014 onwards.
MD-101		FEATHERS (or LEAVES) -- 36 pair of feathers or leaves. Gene Trimble reported this to me and supplied the scan. He said it is from the old Burt Co., Portland ME (1920's-1988).......(Incidentally, click here to see a "six feathers" mold chip that was never used to produce chips, other than samples. Made by Atlantic Molding, Portland ME, successor to the Burt Co.)
MD-102		AZTEC PYRAMID (a/k/a-the "KP" mold) -- 12 repetitions of an Indian-Aztec-pyramid design. c. 1995 to present. This is the exclusive mold of K. P. Gaming Supplies , 12121 Madera Way, Riverside CA 92503, an American Indian owned and operated gambling supply business, headed by Kevin P. Thornton, in exsistence 1993 - date. The chips are manufactured in California and are used mostly in Indian casinos in that state; some are sold elsewhere in the U.S.
MD-103		FLAME (Shell) -- 8 repetitions of a flame design. Often mistakenly called the shell design, but the Blue Chip Co. people officially call it their "flame" mold. It is the exclusive mold of the Blue Chip Co., North Las Vegas, NV, which started business April 2002. The company was organized by some members of the Endy family after they sold Paul-son Co. to the huge French-owned Bourgogne et Grasset Co. (now called Gaming Partners International Corporation, abbreviated GPI Corp.). The Blue Chip Co. uses another mold for casino chips, and uses the flame mold chips for its retail (home poker chip sets) business. Both molds were first used in Nov. 2002....... ........ ....... The advertising chip on the left is not for sale, just for display. ...I can sell you a sample chip of this mold. It is this $1000 Casino De Isthmus City poker chip (click here to see it). The chip is a sort of homage to the James Bond movie, "A Licence to Kill," staring Timothy Dalton. Featured in that movie was a fictitious Latin American casino/city of that name. (The chip you will receiving will be in mint condition. The chip in the scan has been scored with a pencil to make the flame mold more visible.	$2.00
MD-104		SUN -- 8 repetitions of a sun design. It is the exclusive mold of the Blue Chip Co., North Las Vegas, NV, which statrted business April 2002. The company was organized by some members of the Endy family after they sold Paul-son Co. to the huge French-owned Bourgogne et Grasset Co. (now called Gaming Partners International Corporation, abbreviated GPI Corp.). The Blue Chip Co. uses this Sun mold for its casino chip business and the above Flame mold (MD-103) for its retail home poker chip set business. Both molds were first used in Nov. 2002. The advertising chip to the left is not for sale. But soon I will be having some sample chips for sale here.
MD-105		RIDGE MOLD -- elevated ridge near rim edge; and "cloudy," rough, concrete-like surface near the rim; and smooth center area (click here and here for more pictures of the mold). This is a very rare and frail mold chip, apparently not made by US Playing Card Co. Handsome in its simplicity. For years I had seen the mold just in the one blue plain chip (first link, above) I owned, and just now (Aug. 2005) found the inlay chips. No known attribution. .... ... ..... I have the inlay chips (red, white and yellow -- second link, above) for sale.	$10.00
MD-11		HOUSE MOLD -- described in the letters/words section --- click here
MD-16		WAVE CRESTS -- described in the letters/words section -- click here
MD-17		"C" MOLD -- described in the letters/words section -- click here
MD-19		"H" MOLD -- described in the letters/words section -- click here
MD-22		LAZY "N" (a/k/a OIL CAN MOLD) -- described in letters/words section -- click here
MD-25		LAZY "S" -- described in the letters/words section -- click here
MD-53		LAZY DIAMONDS -- described in geometric (diamonds...) section -- click here
MD-69		DRAGONS -- described in plant/animal section -- click here
MD-78		SMALL CROWNS -- described in the manmade objects section -- click here
MD-80		HOUR GLASS -- described in the manmade objects section -- click here
MD-81		HARPS -- described in the manmade objects section -- click here