Bud Jones CIC -- new versus used (1 Viewer)

[liftapint]

i have no experience with CIC chips. What is the difference between "mint" and "casino used" chips. I mean, for clay chips, used can mean rounded edges, flea bites, and worn cross hatching . How would I tell a new from used CIC?

 

[MegaTon44]

Casino used = no coin

Kidding. I actually always wondered the same honestly

 

[jbutler]

i have no experience with CIC chips. What is the difference between "mint" and "casino used" chips. I mean, for clay chips, used can mean rounded edges, flea bites, and worn cross hatching . How would I tell a new from used CIC?

If I've ever had a CiC chip with any rounding it's been so subtle I've never noticed it, but there will be the occasional tiny flea bite which obviously has a different character given the material (sometimes a slightly sharper edge left from the "bite").

With regard to cross hatching, it depends (naturally) on the original mold used. BJ uses both smooth and textured molds. The Borgata chips aren't CiC, but the wear on the chips is instructive and I've handled hundreds of thousands of different Borgata chips over the years so I have felt them in all stages of wear.

The first orders by Borgata were produced on the smooth mold. You will have a hard time distinguishing chips that have been in play 13 years and those that have been in play 6 months. Unless the chips are stained, they wear very, very well. Many of the add-ons ordered by Borgata were produced on the textured mold. The chips produced on the textured mold will gradually wear down to feel smooth, but and the texture will be more or less noticeable depending on where along the continuum the chip is from wearing down.

You can see chips produced on the textured and smooth molds below:

I don't know for certain whether CiC chips are also produced on both textured and smooth molds, but if so you could anticipate the same manner of wear.

 

[Max D]

Good question, look forward to an answer (y) :thumbsup:from a knowledgeable chipper.

the anwer came at the same time...

 

[mike32]

I have both new and used chips in my BJ mixed set, mostly from Parker's but they are not CIC. My opinion is BJ chips are very stout and other than a few scratches they tend to hold up very well. My older $1 white chips have nicotine stains, the slight yellowing is not very noticeable.

 

[ChipEnvy]

The short answer is there is not much difference. The longer answer imo is it depends on what sort of chip you are talking about. Some of the chips with concentric circles will show wear on the inlay more so than plain coin chips. Other than that just the overall pristineness (lack of minute scratches) of the coin and surface scratches on the chip itself. Most of the time it is really splitting hairs. The only other thing that I can think of is on a worn chip the molding around the coin itself can sometimes crack.

 

[rowlin]

Whatever condition Redbelly's Silver Bird set is in, they were a joy to handle for the several orbits it took me to go busto.

 

[RainmanTrail]

I spent about two hours last night cherry picking through my Grove CIC set. All of them have the brass inlays. With the brass, you can definitely see varying degrees of patina and even corrosion in some cases. However, most of them can be polished to look like new again. But the plastic part of the chip is pretty resilient to abuse, although it does show light scratches when you angle them into the light. I do have some chips where the plastic took a beating, but those are the exception. I'm not sure exactly how long The Grove chips were in play for, but it was at least 15 years. Note, they didn't have any reserves either. All their chips were in play.

Here's a typical used Grove chip and a mostly new Colorado Belle chip...

 

[ovo]

I got my Condado Plaza and the 25's are mint, very tight in the Bud Jones racks. But the other denoms have play in the racks, so they do wear down