Cleaning old plastic chips (1 Viewer)

[Zaphod]

I cleaned some old chips I have today with the Dawn and warm water method. I'm very glad I did because the wash basin was disgusting afterwards. However, it seemed to take some of the color out of the chips. I don't have a before picture, but I assume I also washed off about 70 years of oil that had been laid into the chips by people using them. I see all sorts of threads for people oiling clays and composites and I'm wondering if those techniques would work just as well on these midcentury plastics?

PS I searched, but couldn't find an answer for this. If I missed the thread, please direct me to it.

 

[AlbinoDragon]

Those aren't "plastic"!! They are some old material that's closer to ceramic in sound and feel than anything else I can think of. The one with the crown is around 100 years old.

If it was just plain Dawn (no Oxy or anything else) you certainly got grime off of them, but if it was anything else you might have started to pull the color out of the chip which is why they look faded and why your water was so gross looking.

A touch of mineral oil (very little on a soft cloth) should make these pop again.

 

[Zaphod]

Okay. Educate me. I'm under the impression that the crest and seal are a material called paranoid, which is an old brand name for a specific type of plastic. The 100 definitely is and looks to be mid century. I suspect you're right about the crown though

 

[AlbinoDragon]

The paranoid is cellulose (I think) which is a plastic. Paranoids are early-to-mid 1900s.

I don't know on the 100, though would put that earlier in the 1900s.

I was specifically talking about the crown and wasn't terribly clear about that. Sorry!

 

[Zaphod]

That crown is older than the rest. The 100 is raised and rounded and was in with some bright red and yellow 5's and blue and white 55's (I'd love to know what game thought 55 was a better denomination than 50) and some Tupperware pink 1's. I'll get a daylight pic of those tomorrow