Favorite Paulson Fantasy Set? (19 Viewers)

[allforcharity]

Do you know this to be true?
I wasn’t chipping when Paulson was cranking out these sets, so I don’t know the dates. But I’ve always assumed that many/most/a lot of the Paulson fantasy chips were produced post lead.

I believe that Paulson starting phasing out lead starting in 1998 but actually took some time to do, so many Paulson fantasies were fully leaded and some were reduced-lead, like CDI98. By the time of the 2005 and the Paulson House mold, formulae were lead-free in line with government regulation.

 

[BGinGA]

As far as i can tell, fantasy just means a set sold to the public, with a theme, that aren’t actual casino chips.
Personally I wouldn’t consider Big Tops or Tigers or any other NAGB sets to be fantasy sets. They’re similar, but they’re something different. Paulson didn’t sell these to the public.
The Paulson fantasy chips all used (or shared) a very limited number of base colors + spot patterns and colors. Which explains why some larger sets like casino de Mexico actually have duplicate chips with different denominations in the same set. And this is another reason why NAGB chips don’t fit into the Fantasy category.

I'd agree to some extent, but not completely.

In my view, original Paulson chips (excluding re-labeled or re-stamped) fall into one of four general categories, and all can be leaded or unleaded (depending on date of manufacture):

• casino chip sets
• fantasy chip sets
• custom chip sets
• semi-custom chip sets

The more recent unleaded fantasy chip sets (circa 2005-2013) were ordered/sold by Trademark (a GPI distributor), and include Pharaoh's Club & Casino, TH&C Classics, Casino de Isthmuth City, Nation Poker Series, World Top Hat & Cane, Private Cardroom, Avalon Club, and Grand Cardroom (the last three being hot-stamped). All were produced on either the PAULSON CHIPS or Card Pip (suits) mold. One additional fantasy set was ordered/sold by Sidepot Poker - Paulson le Noir, produced on the Paradise (pineapple) mold. Customs and semi-customs included hot-stamped chips sold by Apache Poker, produced on the Card Pip mold.

None were sold directly to the public by GPI.

The nagb chips made from 2017-present were produced on the TH&C mold (excluding B&G and oversized IHC and FHC chips) and all are unleaded. Some of these sets are customs (designed for individuals -- Harlequin, Truman's House, and others), while some are fantasy (designed for resale, either at-cost or for-profit -- Empress Star, Aurora Star, Big Top Poker, Sunset Beach, Royal Princess Casino, Tiger Palace).

All were sold to GPI customers, presumably to approved companies and not to individuals or the general public.

The only major difference between the older THC fantasy sets, the newer sets produced on the PC/card pips mold, and the latest nagb THC sets are colors and spot patterns. That doesn't change the fact that they are all fantasy chip sets, and not casino chips or customs.