Not Mine Is there anything of value here? (1 Viewer)

[Potsie1]

Some of them are old. Most appear to be junk. I asked for some close up pics and I'll post what I got. The person said they are set up for her mom at an estate sale on thursday. Im guessing this is to sell early. Tons of sets for 300 but I cant even see one set of vintage clay. Am I missing anything?

original ad is here
https://offerupnow.com/item/detail/117040236/65-various-poker-chip-sets

pics that were emailed. No close up of face of chips.

 

[Potsie1]

I mean are the chip racks alone worth 300? I hate the wood spinners.

 

[Shaggy]

the big wood box in the back is piquing my interest. I'm curious what is inside that thing.

 

[Potsie1]

the big wood box in the back is piquing my interest. I'm curious what is inside that thing.

thats funny because I already asked her about that! Unfortunately its about a 50 min. drive. Unless I see something good I dont feel like driving just to check them out.

Here's her response.
There are clay chips, but it loos like only 10-15% are clay. Some are wood and some are a swirly colored plastic. If you live nearby you can go by before Thursday to look. We just don't know much about the collection as they were my late father's. There are quite a few wooden cases, some have chips and some don't. He just had so many and we don't know anything about them. She has them individually priced for more, but would rather sell as a lot than piece them out with the amount there. She said she is open to offers.

 

[AWenger]

Holy cow... is this what chip pron looked like in the 1940s!?!

What is it they sometimes say on TV shows like American Pickers and Pawn Stars -- just because something's old doesn't mean it's valuable. But, truthfully, I have no idea what these might be worth.

I once paid (overpaid) for an old 12-slot wood spinner chip set for about $40+$20 shipping that had what turned out to be about 300 plastic or bakelite chips, which I bought mostly because the chips had unique colors - aqua, maroon, golden yellow, lavender, and dark green. But most of the old red, white, blue, and yellow chips in the pictures seem really common based on other chips I've seen on eBay, that either don't sell, or don't sell for much.

Some of the old playing cards might be cool to check out, and there are a few wood boxes/cases on the table that are closed (hidden treasure?), but based on everything else in the pictures, most of it seems fairly common. Although, if you happen to know a rich Boston Celtics and/or Dartmouth College fan who also plays backgammon, maybe you can score on the wood backgammon set.

 

[DrStrange]

If you will search eBay for "vintage poker chips", you will see all sorts of stuff like in your pictures. Most of it is likely low/no value junk. But it wouldn't take but one find to make the collection. I'd say it is worth the hour's drive to look.

Let's keep in mind that there were a lot of west coast card rooms (both legal and illegal) who's chips ended up somewhere. The dad was a guy just like us, He collected chips by the set and by the looks of things, he collected a lot of chips.

Go look and see if you find that once in a lifetime something -=- DrStrange

 

[Potsie1]

Go look and see if you find that once in a lifetime something

So true. The regret would be in not looking. I messaged her and asked if I can come out tomorrow. I'll keep you posted. I told her at the least I could give her a better idea on the value of some of them.

 

[GenghisKhan]

The shoebox (last pic and 3rd last pic) has cardboard 100 chip boxes. There's a solid white box, solid red, and a blue. I'd be curious about those especially.

 

[JFCJ]

@jbutler was in search of a large spinner awhile back I think.... he may have some ideas here...

 

[Potsie1]

Definitely worth the drive but unfortunately the poker chips were a bust. Everything in the boxes ended up being plastic interlocking type chips. I only found about 80 clay chips which were decently worn, dirty and with different molds($20). Of course I bought them! Found 3 uncirculated pepermill $5 chips from reno($5). I bought two of the wood cases because Im a sucker for older nice solid wood chip cases($20). After I looked at all the chips she brought out two john deere poker sets that were in new condition. The sets looked really nice but of course were for a type of collector not found on this site. I bought them($80). Also found these cool wood hinged boxes that perfectly fit 12 decks of cards($1 each).
Because it was an estate sale she let me look around and buy stuff even before the sale opened. It was pretty cool. Her late husband was a rep for john deere and I was able to pick up a lot of cool stuff. I got 20 new hats with tags for $1 each. I wont bore you guys with all the things I bought but needless to say I filled my car for only a couple hundred bucks. Was home by 1pm with some safeway chinese food to relax the rest of the day. Just another day in the life of a chip hunter.

A few boring pics for your enjoyment.

 

[GenghisKhan]

Well sounds like it was worth it. I have a friend who is a JD freak. Those are very nice cases and chips compared to the usual corporate chips you see.

 

[AWenger]

Very neat. Sorry to hear you didnt find a huge cache of clay chips, but thanks for the trip report and pics!

 

[luckbox]

dam i thought you might find more chips...i would have grabbed some of the large wood racks maybe if they were cheap enough, surprised there were no bakelite chip holders around, those can bring a dollar or three

those small Lane cedar boxes with the cards in them....they were usually given away by a local furniture store, provided by Lane as a promo to try to sell the full size cedar "hope" chests to some of the graduating high school girls years back, maybe they still do that

at least that is what my mom told me...she got one, back in the day that i have today...sort of cool to see a few there(y) :thumbsup:

 

[Junior24xx]

Love those John deer cases. Cool story no matter what.

 

[Potsie1]

dam i thought you might find more chips...i would have grabbed some of the large wood racks maybe if they were cheap enough, surprised there were no bakelite chip holders around, those can bring a dollar or three

those small Lane cedar boxes with the cards in them....they were usually given away by a local furniture store, provided by Lane as a promo to try to sell the full size cedar "hope" chests to some of the graduating high school girls years back, maybe they still do that

at least that is what my mom told me...she got one, back in the day that i have today...sort of cool to see a few there

I was keeping an eye out for bakelite. None to be found. Sounds right on the small cedar boxes. She told me a story close to what you wrote about the little chests.