Cards Mold/"Tina" Alibaba Ceramics Master Consolidated Info Thread (3 Viewers)

This is what I was thinking about yesterday when I originally saw them. Of course we might be able to tell, but then you have someone online who doesn't know what they have, they list the chips online and from the picture you might not be able to tell. They pay ~.40 cents per chip and flip them for $3 per chip... Someone gets them and knows what happened, then there's going to be an issue.

Of course the one think that you might be able to tell the difference between real and fake would be the printing quality, but from pictures it can be hard at times to tell what is real or not. You'd have to have a real close up to tell the difference.
This is why I will have no part of them. And will give grief to anyone who does.
 
View attachment 1048606View attachment 1048605

Samples, no current orders.

Never a fan of the top hat and Cane (too fancy) definitely don't like RHC.
I was about to post the pics from Tina as well but seem like Seah beat me to it

Anyway GOD BLESSED PCF

They look pretty legit on the PNY samples, can foreseen unsuspecting people thinking they are buying RHC set but end up receiving RHC Faked set instead
 
Last edited:
Has anyone designed a Noir tribute on the cards mold?

66029
 
It’s one thing to wear Gucci styled generic clothing, it’s completely different to wear fake Gucci.

Swap meet Paulsons?

Sorry y’all, that mold on a ceramic chip is whack.

TinaHC comes complete with added bike tire rounded edge effect? Should have added some flea bites to really mess with peoples heads.
 
The only real concern I have is people trying to pass off recreations as the originals and scam people into buying them at higher than reasonable prices, or try to turn in at casinos. That and original creators of designs not receiving far compensation of their work (although I somewhat doubt the secondary market on PCF is large enough compared to the Casinos ordering new chips). I do think there is an extent to which people only care about scarcity (even if it's not financially motivated), but poker chips are functional objects. In my opinion, they're meant to be played with and used and degraded, not hoarded as investments or stores of wealth. Attempting to make recreations indiscernible from the original violates that spirit, you could make them have a near identical aesthetic, but some clear differentiated marks that shows they're not the same.

I play Magic the Gathering as well, and have no qualms about purchasing knock-off cards (proxies) to play with friends. It saves hundreds to thousands of dollars and leads to the same game experience. The proxies I buy are clearly marked on the back as not 'real' cards for reselling purposes, and are out of print cards that artists aren't making any money on anymore. Mark Tedin doesn't give a shit if I buy a 10 cent mana crypt instead of spending $300 on one.
 
I would love to film someone trying to cash in these chips at a casino, all the way through security being called. They look and feel different in a stack and in a rack. I just don’t see it being an issue.

As for selling here, I think that people will police that appropriately.
 
I think you underestimate how ignorant the average person is when it comes to poker chips. Sure, the TinaHC chips don't stand up to even the basic scrutiny when trying to compare them to a real paulson, but they don't have to. First, people don't pay that close attention to chips besides the number on it saying how much it's worth. Second, many casino chips are not uniform across denominations or even within the same denomination - different molds, different inlays, even different materials. The average person will not bat an eye with a few TinaHC chips mixed in with their other chips, especially if they are "close enough". Just takes someone to wash a few $25s or $100s to get them in circulation and then Houston, we have a problem. It's not a matter of IF it will happen, but WHEN it will happen and how frequently. Then we have lawyers here with C&D letters and law enforcement with warrants. Casinos take that shit seriously and so should we. I believe the penalty for manufacturing, possessing and/or using counterfeit chips is 1 to 6 years in prison and max fine of up to $10,000. So go right ahead and contract to manufacture 1000s and 1000s of live casino tribute counterfeit chips. Then let me know how that ends up for you.

Maybe I'm being overly dramatic or paranoid??? I don't know. I guess time will tell.
 
Last edited:
Colors will never be close to Paulson, it will stick out like a sore thumb. You have to be not paying attention at all to miss it.

Someone trying to sell them off as real ones is not possible when you see the edges and chips up close.

I don't get it, you get to make a custom chip and you want a top hat and cane?!?
 
Last edited:
Well then why did the Borgata issue a C&D on the BW chips? They weren't counterfeits, had a different name on them, and they were for personal use. So what was the big deal???
 
Well then why did the Borgata issue a C&D on the BW chips? They weren't counterfeits, had a different name on them, and they were for personal use. So what was the big deal???
I think those were actually really close to the real things. If not, a company decides whether they want to put money to shut it down or leave it. Just comes down to the company. I think they step in when it really gets close to the real thing.

Not sure if it was a C&D, but sunfly definitely did not make them anymore.
 
Also it sounds like arch3r is good with Tina China chips from closed properties (e.g. PNY, Vineyard, etc).

Tina chips based on closed properties not on the THC mold are in a gray area IMO. There is no concern of someone mistakenly or on purpose passing them at a casino, but still you are using IP and artwork you may not have permission to use. Is it right to do? Not really. But it's kinda a victimless crime. I don't think someone is going to get a C&D letter or arrested for using artwork from a casino that closed 20 years ago.

I've had gear print labels using closed casino artwork and I have a set of Tina card mold chips using the starlite artwork and I don't have permission to use either. Never really considered any of that being wrong but maybe it is???

I guess I draw the line at something that may get you arrested or bring C&D letters to PCF.
 
Tina chips based on closed properties not on the THC mold are in a gray area IMO. There is no concern of someone mistakenly or on purpose passing them at a casino, but still you are using IP and artwork you may not have permission to use. Is it right to do? Not really. But it's kinda a victimless crime. I don't think someone is going to get a C&D letter or arrested for using artwork from a casino that closed 20 years ago.

I've had gear print labels using closed casino artwork and I have a set of Tina card mold chips using the starlite artwork and I don't have permission to use either. Never really considered any of that being wrong but maybe it is???

I guess I draw the line at something that may get you arrested or bring C&D letters to PCF.
As I "confessed" elsewhere, I'm actually more okay with the Tina RHC mold than I thought I'd be, but only on defunct casino designs. My thought is, if I'd consider getting a set of chips is a direct or close reproduction of the real thing, like the Crystal Park design (as opposed to a tribute like the Vineyard-based Picard design), then it's not going that much farther to get it on a replica RHC mold as opposed to cards mold (or diamond mold or whatever mold wins the vote)...

However, I have zero personal interest on chips that replicate live chips someone may be tempted to pass off as the real thing at a casino. Is that an arbitrary line, absolutely. It's a continuum with @upNdown and @aggie on one end of the spectrum, @TX_Golf_N_Poker and perhaps yourself and many others kind of in the middle that advocate (or at least accept) that replication/tribute designs are okay on CMs but not faux-RHC/THC molds, and me slightly further away but with my own personal line in the sand.

(Yes, I do think a Tina produced-RHC mold Crystal Park has the potential to be sold as the real--albeit obsolete--former casino chips on eBay, but I would only be buying the set for my own personal use, and if I ever sold I'd clearly advertise these as ceramic reproductions. Could someone else buy from me and then try to sell unscrupulously? Sure, but I've seen fraudulent listings of cards mold chips being sold as real casino chips on eBay already; I cannot control what other people decide to do illegally/immorally.)

(Edit: I've also seen @Apache's commemorative Dunes being sold on eBay for way more than they're worth, being advertised as former casino chips. Should Apache stop selling those even though they are clearly marked? Should people be encouraged not to buy them because of this potential for fraud?)
 
Last edited:
I'm actually more okay with the Tina RHC mold than I thought I'd be

I guess my line in the sand is not using anything live nor current without express permission. That includes names, logos, artwork, etc... So using that principle, the Tina RHC chips for me are 100% off limits since it is a replication of a currently active poker chip mold owned by GPI and probably 100% illegal to use/reproduce as well. ( Yes, I understand that Paulson chips are clay and Tina chips are ceramic and it would be relatively easy to tell them apart upon inspection, but that's not the point. GPI currently owns/uses the RHC design and no one else should, regardless of the material. )

And let's face it, if it was legal for anyone to produce chips with that mold, I'm sure Claysmith and/or other consumer poker chip companies would be doing it, considering the Top Hat and Cane logo is iconic in poker chips. But they don't because they don't have the rights to. The chip mold and logo are part of a company's brand/trademark/copyright they own and we should all respect that and avoid doing anything to infringe on it. And I'm pretty sure it's illegal to use it on any poker chip whether the artwork be a live "tribute", defunct casino or complete custom design. But I'm not a lawyer so I can't say that with 100% confidence. I'm sure someone would try and argue fair use or something like that since it's a facsimile of the original and not trying to counterfeit it. Again, not the point. We all know that mold is Paulson and we should not use it period.

I bet CPC would probably have big time issues with Tina if her next mold was one they own and have exclusive rights to produce. Don't know what legally CPC could do to stop it or what, if anything, they could do to any individual who contracts to produce and imports Tina chips using their exclusive mold? Maybe @David Spragg could chime in and give some insight from the point of view of an entity that exclusively owns and currently uses molds in the daily function of their business?
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account and join our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Back
Top Bottom