It’s official, “THC” fake is a thing now (5 Viewers)

[iLogik]

Like I said, a sucker and his money…

More than you think lol

 

[Colquhoun]

I have a framed print in my home office of Edward Hopper’s famous 1935 painting, “The Long Leg”.

I’m not trying to pass it off as the original.
No one who sees it has asked ,”Why not display an original or custom painting instead of this copy?”
Because I love it.

The same goes for my Bellagio replica set. All the money in the world couldn’t buy an original high-denom set of these. I have no interest in a custom set…I just happen to love the look of the ‘98 Bellagios.

 

[LowerBama1714]

Let’s be honest here.

Let’s say magically in 2 years someone stole the secret recipes and they could now do real clay chips with real Paulson or TRK colors and make chips indistinguishable from their originals for say CPC prices.

No one here would order Mapes? Lakeshores? Giraffes? On the other hand, while I’ve always maintained I don’t care, im not gonna lie I’d be quite sad if I saw my same chip sets now available in lesser forms. It would definitely kill the collecting aspect of the hobby for me.

Trains left the station, toothpastes ain’t going back in the tube.

View attachment 1401174

We know the formula…let’s work up some seed money and get to it.

I vote for cotton over cellulose…but I have the hookup for both.

Just need to source some thermoplastics (but that’s still a big question mark).

 

[elemeno]

Selective outrage in this thread

 

[Labrat]

The same goes for my Bellagio replica set. All the money in the world couldn’t buy an original high-denom set of these. I have no interest in a custom set…I just happen to love the look of the ‘98 Bellagios.

My absolute favorite casino design.

I need me summa dem.

 

[Dunc]

All those things and so many more.
Here’s one that doesn’t get mentioned often. And there’s some irony in it, because with my anti-copies attitude, I’ve been accused of gatekeeping.
This is a difficult hobby to break into. There aren’t any guidebooks or price guides. There’s no Casino Chips for Dummies. There’s a crazy amount of knowledge in this hobby that’s simply passed by word of mouth (and sadly, some of the guys with the most knowledge are aging out.)
So it’s incredibly hard for a new guy to know whether a chip is worth twenty cents or twenty dollars. And it’s not like most chips have any kind of provenance. There’s exactly one store in the world, where you could walk in and speak with experts. The only way to know what a chip is, is to learn everything you can about chips, so you can try to identify them and value them based on pictures.
I’ve spent plenty of time explaining stuff to new guys - the differences between the RHC mold and the THC molds, the little injection nub on the face of a plastic chip or the edge of a ceramic chip - stuff like that. I WANT to help people get into this hobby.
But these knockoffs make it even more difficult. It Used to be that even if you didn’t know the difference between THC and RHC, at least you knew to look for that hat with the cane through it. Not any more. Or those pretty Aria chips - even if you know nothing about molds, you could go to the Chipguide website and see exactly what a $1 or $5 look like, if you want to identify Aria chips. Not any more.

Tl;dr - it’s a confusing hobby and even without malicious intent, these copies, knockoffs, and counterfeits make it a lot more confusing.

Tl;dr2 - I may often be an asshole, but I’m not a gatekeeper.

Is there a resources on PCF or another wesbite that details the differences in manufacturing/history of molds? Would love to learn more like differences between THC and RHC.
I've been looking up chip sets I see here and googling acronyms since joining, but seems like the info is scattered and confusing as a newbie unless I've missed a centralized resource wiki.

 

[augster123]

We can only hope the products coming out of China get to be so good and affordable that they won't need to copy the molds of other companies to sell their products. It seems like with the help of some of PCF's esteemed members, Tina is already making new molds that are pretty damn good on their own merits.

All that being said, I agree with the above comparison to fine art, so long as the vendor is plainly clear that the products are replicas. Who knows, if you owned an extremely rare set of chips that you consider to be art and don't want to felt, would you consider buying a super high-quality replica set to splash around with your chuckle-head friends who might spill bourbon on them? I would argue that might make you enjoy your originals even more. Owners of Shelby Cobra kit cars I'm sure hold the originals with nothing less than pure reverence.

 

[allforcharity]

I have a framed print in my home office of Edward Hopper’s famous 1935 painting, “The Long Leg”.
View attachment 1404597
I’m not trying to pass it off as the original.
No one who sees it has asked ,”Why not display an original or custom painting instead of this copy?”
Because I love it.

I'm glad you love the art you buy and display. That's how it should be done.

But was your print produced by someone who surreptitiously took a high resolution photo of the original and then made prints, or did Hopper (or his estate) give permission to license out the image to be printed and sold and got some sort of compensation for it?

 

[Colquhoun]

I'm glad you love the art you buy and display. That's how it should be done.

But was your print produced by someone who surreptitiously took a high resolution photo of the original and then made prints, or did Hopper (or his estate) give permission to license out the image to be printed and sold and got some sort of compensation for it?

I didn’t do the research on the print when I bought it.
I get it, there’s plenty here on PCF that are simply looking to make sure that those responsible for creating the originals are compensated. But I also think there a lot of others that are motivated by the idea that replicas shouldn’t exist because it diminishes or devalues the originals, or they simply don’t like the idea. To the latter, we differ.

 

[Budha]

Personally, I don’t really give a sh*t what people do with their own money, but I just don’t get the desire to buy knock-offs of original products or designs, regardless of price or quality, nor do I understand the surprise from owners of said knock-offs when they fail to garner a positive reaction from others.

To me, it’s akin to posting photos of a fake Patek Philippe on a watch collectors forum or rolling up to a Porsche owners meetup in a kit car and then wondering why people aren’t excited about it.

I generally agree with you an all accounts. The exception I would make is for a set of something like the original Stardust where there is no option to get an original set (it doesn’t exist, at least that I’m aware of)

Aside from something like that, I agree.

 

[upNdown]

I generally agree with you an all accounts. The exception I would make is for a set of something like the original Stardust where there is no option to get an original set (it doesn’t exist, at least that I’m aware of)

Aside from something like that, I agree.

This will get you started:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1966829872...Mx8wcs8oDaT1A1IvOj7ymXGg==|tkp:Bk9SR7bfpMvTZA

 

[Budha]

This will get you started:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/196682987292?_skw=stardust+casino+chip&itmmeta=01JAEB95YPTZNBA17JAYVCP2NM&hash=item2dcb38371c:g:iUEAAOSwTkFm7YK6&itmprp=enc:AQAJAAAA8HoV3kP08IDx+KZ9MfhVJKn7xtYVJDAOXjzNHPBZ05/y/iSYcZeqK+RDrcs9RjTKQViL+3+Rse3xgJv4EJO9nv+W/piySOeug4dvcudhhv9vIF+BLkoUsDqSjwx3PaZwr9q06+mkLQCfKV9aWDjLUmks8arDjFOnM87+daz63+27rrdKv+ghXXu405/XfkmUSxVDtrPHjY0mfqQCWYQqAcvZnDUkOW/dxM9CDgR4XNv8dW7v2PmDpcWugxzJDHGUElyRTol9Pg03lTgIZ15Vkqp+9DyzdOyC+XuouVKgTFMx8wcs8oDaT1A1IvOj7ymXGg==|tkp:Bk9SR7bfpMvTZA

Yeah, sure singles of the $20 (one of my all time fav’s BTW). I seen a few $5’s and $1’s, but never in any qty.

Is there a playable set of Stardust’s in existence? Or could there ever be?

I guess my point is, I am not as passionately against copies as some. I am also not really a fan of copies. I could however see some utility in a tribute playable set of something where the chips were destroyed, etc.

 

[chippitydoodah]

Yeah, sure singles of the $20 (one of my all time fav’s BTW). I seen a few $5’s and $1’s, but never in any qty.

Is there a playable set of Stardust’s in existence? Or could there ever be?

I guess my point is, I am not as passionately against copies as some. I am also not really a fan of copies. I could however see some utility in a tribute playable set of something where the chips were destroyed, etc.

It's so hard to start a classic set like that from square one. You've got to have some kind of bulk starting stacks to justify continuing one by one buying. Even if it's chips that go for $5 each, after postage you're looking at $8 - $10 per chip. It's gotta be a forever set you're building because you'd never recoup what you spent building it. I have one of those sets and I compare it to a guy who restores a classic car. When he's done there's $100,000 invested and the resale value is at best $60,000 so it better be something you're going to cherish forever.

 

[Budha]

It's so hard to start a classic set like that from square one. You've got to have some kind of bulk starting stacks to justify continuing one by one buying. Even if it's chips that go for $5 each, after postage you're looking at $8 - $10 per chip. It's gotta be a forever set you're building because you'd never recoup what you spent building it. I have one of those sets and I compare it to a guy who restores a classic car. When he's done there's $100,000 invested and the resale value is at best $60,000 so it better be something you're going to cherish forever.

Oh for sure.

In this instance, I’m generally referring to a set that can’t be built. All the chips were either destroyed, or what’s left in circulation, even if you had 100% of it, wouldn’t be playable.

 

[LeLe]

hmm a lot of discussion happen yesterday.

The reason I started this thread is to create awareness about the "THC" mold so new member or even older member who does understand the differences between RHC/THC don't get scam rather than mold-shaming them.

And also the guy changing ARIA's to ARIA is a huge red flag to me as well.

I don't really care if people want to create duplicate of chip where they can't afford, people do that all the times in other hobby as well.

I did it myself when I first joined the PCF forum, created the BTP artwork by "copying" from scratch and had them done in Card Mold because the price of real BTP is crazy to me at that time (still seem crazy to me now to be honest) and I want to own a set of BTP even if they are fake.