Fake vs genuine vintage chips (1 Viewer)

[DrStrange]

I have collected an assortment of "paranoid" brand poker chips over the years. These chips were produced by US Poker Chips roughly from 1900 - 1945. The last purchase I made was done hastily and I ended up with modern fakes. The reproductions are ceramic and clearly different from the original chips

025

• DrStrange
• Dec 9, 2015

Reproduction - left Genuine - right

The fakes are on the left, original ones on the right. The ceramics have sharp edges and show no signs of use or wear. They are notably thicker, though that wouldn't show up in auction photos featuring only reproductions. The orignial chips are made with rounded edges - they would not stand on edge even newly out of the box.

If I had taken careful note of the pictures in the eBay ad, I would have been able to tell that the auction was not offering pre WWII chips but modern ceramic reproductions. The sharp edges were obvious and a clear indication of the origins of the chips. Sadly, I had not run into this problem before and grabbed the auction without a careful examination of the images.

In my case, the seller seems clueless. He didn't trade in poker chips. The fake "vintage" boxes added to the illusion. I doubt he would have made money paying to get fakes made since he got $25 from me for 300 chips. I ended up giving him neutral feedback since I doubted he inteded to trade in reproductions and kept the chips rather than repackage them & send them back.

Hoprefully this post will help other folks avoid the same problem as I had.

Lesson learned -=- DrStrange

 

[BGinGA]

I'm thinking this will interest @jbutler who has recently starting building a set of paranoids. But I thought he mentioned that he was only looking for the 'square-edge' versions, and not the rounded ones..... so your reference above -- "orignial chips are made with rounded edges" -- confuses me.

 

[DrStrange]

Perhaps he means that mint or near mint = 'square edges' and used / burned / worn chips aren't what he wants. I haven't seen any example of thie type of chip with modern style sharp edges. Though given their long production span, maybe some were made with sharp edges?
DrStrange

 

[mike32]

Not sure those with rounded edges are "fakes". I don't think they are dye sublimated ceramics, just a different version of an old chip. I like the square edged ones much more.

 

[atomiktoaster]

I have a mix of about 80 of them, with more square edges than round. I'd be surprised if they were ceramics simply because modern ceramics cost more than the paranoids are worth.

 

[jbutler]

Yeah I've collected probably 3000 or 4000 total chips at this point in attempting to cull together a set of matching color tone square edge paranoids. I don't know enough about original production dates to say which came earlier, but certainly there are plenty of original paranoids with modern style square edges. I'm sure if you cared to know this info there would be plenty of people on TCB who could help you out. They were helpful to me in teaching me what to look for to match the FDLs I had.

@DrStrange if you want to check some out, PM me your address. I have plenty that I will never do anything with, so I can easily spare a stack or a few of each color/design.

 

[gmunny]

I do have a generic roulette like the one on the left but it is a clay chip on the plain or no mold. It has similar square edges and was prob made post 1960's. I don't think i have ever seen a ceramic generic roulette that has that design. Not sure if Chipco made any generic roullette's like though.