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Paulson Color Samples... a Chronology (4 Viewers)

gmunny said:
Are we sure the font size aligns with an exact time period? Though i tend to think the small fonts are newer, I have this ad that has both medium and large fonts. And a Royal blue with a medium font, which i never noticed before.

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This is awesome. Exactly what I wanted to see. This needs to be properly scanned and referenced. There is a color here that is not present in the current "complete" set - FIRE ORANGE

Although... this may just be something close to BLAZE ORANGE.

The old fonts were not consistent, as you see in that ad. They used a mix of large and smaller fonts, depending on how the letters fit on the chip.

There's only 44 colors here, if I can count. I think this predates the 64-color set. Will update.

Thank you!!!
 
sleepypiggly said:
This is awesome. Exactly what I wanted to see. This needs to be properly scanned and referenced. There is a color here that is not present in the current "complete" set - FIRE ORANGE

Although... this may just be something close to BLAZE ORANGE.

The old fonts were not consistent, as you see in that ad. They used a mix of large and smaller fonts, depending on how the letters fit on the chip.

There's only 44 colors here, if I can count. I think this predates the 64-color set. Will update.

Thank you!!!
Click to expand...

Wow, I missed that Fire Orange. i'll try to scan and repost tomorrow.
 
sleepypiggly said:
How does the color compare to say blaze orange? Is it just a renamed color, or a retired color? Paulson did rename some colors over time.
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I’ll have to double check and take photos (not sure where the fire orange is now in my collection) but IIRC it’s the same color or close enough that any variance isn’t likely intentional.
 
Here is scan. There is a hand written date on back is 7/90. you can click the image for a better reso.

img563

Colors in the ad seem a little off, so here is comparison with the actual chips. Looks like the printing wasn't that accurate?

img579

Also here is an ad with same date of 7/90, showing with 43 colors, including blaze orange, so I think they updated the name. Brochure pic was probably never updated.

img569
 
gmunny said:
Here is scan. There is a hand written date on back is 7/90. you can click the image for a better reso.
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You, sir, are a treasure. Thank you. Original Post updated.

Yes unfortunately even the original company cannot produce good photo representations of actual color... @TX_Golf_N_Poker

Looks like the difference b/w the 43 and 44 chip sets are "Metalic Gold" (sic) in blue foil hot stamp.
 
Added some new info and pics to original post - there are some more curious rare color samples over the years that you may not have seen.
- lead to non-leaded transition color samples (RHC mold)
- plain mold hotstamp color samples

@David O @HaRDHouSeiNC @gmunny
 
I really like the idea of using our collective knowledge to figure out a chronology of when Paulson introduced each new color.

The same photo of the color set that @gmunny posted from a Paulson catalog, was also used on the back cover of the 1st edition of "Harvey's Guide to Collecting Gaming Checks and Chips", which was published in 1985. So Paulson was using all of those 44 colors before 1985.

In my notes, I have that Paulson introduced in 2007: Blood Red, Blue Grain, Dark Red, Mexican Rose, Pale Green, and Pumpkin. (6 colors)
In 2014, they introduced Avocado, Pastel Green, Carnation, Light Violet, and Rubine Red (5 colors)
(If I am missing a color, someone should let me know.)

So I guess that some time between 1985 and 2007, the other 33 colors (or so) were introduced. For those of us who sometimes try to identify old UFC Paulson chips, knowing when colors were first introduced could help in figuring out when and where those chips were first used.

1630826352781.png
 
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Jeff in Iowa said:
I really like the idea of using our collective knowledge to figure out a chronology of when Paulson introduced each new color.

The same photo of the color set that @gmunny posted from a Paulson catalog, was also used on the back cover of the 1st edition of "Harvey's Guide to Collecting Gaming Checks and Chips", which was published in 1985. So Paulson was using all of those 44 colors before 1985.

In my notes, I have that Paulson introduced in 2007: Blood Red, Blue Grain, Dark Red, Mexican Rose, Pale Green, and Pumpkin. (6 colors)
In 2014, they introduced Avocado, Pastel Green, Carnation, Light Violet, and Rubine Red (5 colors)
(If I am missing a color, someone should let me know.)

So I guess that some time between 1985 and 2007, the other 33 colors (or so) were introduced. For those of us who sometimes try to identify old UFC Paulson chips, knowing when colors were first introduced could help in figuring out when and where those chips were first used.

View attachment 770867
Click to expand...
I suspect that you can narrow that range down a bit to 1985-2002. I don't think GPI added any new colors other than those in 2007 and 2014.

Can you list the 33 colors?
 
Jeff in Iowa said:
I really like the idea of using our collective knowledge to figure out a chronology of when Paulson introduced each new color.

The same photo of the color set that @gmunny posted from a Paulson catalog, was also used on the back cover of the 1st edition of "Harvey's Guide to Collecting Gaming Checks and Chips", which was published in 1985. So Paulson was using all of those 44 colors before 1985.

In my notes, I have that Paulson introduced in 2007: Blood Red, Blue Grain, Dark Red, Mexican Rose, Pale Green, and Pumpkin. (6 colors)
In 2014, they introduced Avocado, Pastel Green, Carnation, Light Violet, and Rubine Red (5 colors)
(If I am missing a color, someone should let me know.)

So I guess that some time between 1985 and 2007, the other 33 colors (or so) were introduced. For those of us who sometimes try to identify old UFC Paulson chips, knowing when colors were first introduced could help in figuring out when and where those chips were first used.

View attachment 770867
Click to expand...
Thank you! I updated the year on 2007 being the introduction of the (6 colors) Blood Red, Blue Grain, Dark Red, Mexican Rose, Pale Green, and Pumpkin.

The previous years I'll just put some placeholders until we get some more detailed info.
 
Added more info and pics to the original post!
- 64 chip sample set pic
- paulson logo/color stamp pic
- and other misc updated pics
 
This morning I ws going through my Color Sample set which has the color on one side and PAUL-SON with address on the other side and I am even more confused! LOL I lack about 12 chips for the 44 chip set but I have at least 6 extra colors which are Russett, Plum, Bahamia Blue, Dolphin Blue, Sea Green and Dark Brown. So them I looked at the 64 chips set and it does not include the Royal Blue which I have that has Paul-Son on one side.

Not sure what direction to head!

IMG_0495.jpeg
 
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BGinGA said:
I suspect that you can narrow that range down a bit to 1985-2002. I don't think GPI added any new colors other than those in 2007 and 2014.

Can you list the 33 colors?
Click to expand...
Below I have sorted the colors and dates I have so far. (I couldn't cut and paste the list, so I did two screen captures.)

For the 1985 to 2007 period, I have slightly more Paulson color sample chip names listed than are currently offered. Some of these colors are likely different names for the same color. For example, I have a note that when Metallic Silver was introduced it was referred to as "Cronal Silver" and the name was later changed to Metallic Silver. @David O 's "Total Blue" likely refers to another color. If other members, know which other of these names refer to the same color, I would love to know.
1630911618713.png

1630911652720.png
 
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Jeff in Iowa said:
Below I have sorted the colors and dates I have so far. (I couldn't cut and paste the list, so I did two screen captures.)

For the 1985 to 2007 period, I have slightly more Paulson color sample chip names listed than are currently offered. Some of these colors are likely different names for the same color. For example, I have a note that when Metallic Silver was introduced it was referred to as "Cronal Silver" and the name was later changed to Metallic Silver. @David O 's "Total Blue" likely refers to another color. If other members, know which other of these names refer to the same color, I would love to know.
View attachment 771482
View attachment 771484
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You can remove Total blue. It was a typo. I was referring to Royal blue.
 
In my notes, I have it that Gaming Partners International acquired Paulson in 2002. Soon afterwards they produced a catalog of their products that they posted on their new corporate website. A PDF of the entire catalog was archived by the Waybackmachine, and you can see it here; https://web.archive.org/web/20070501000000*/http://www.gpigaming.com/pdf/US_Chips.pdf

The full catalog was first archived in January 2005, and parts of it in 2004. So the catalog itself dates from some time between 2002 and 2004. The catalog is oriented toward corporate clients rather than the home market, so there was no reason as far as I know to hold back on offering some colors.

The catalog list 64 Paulson colors. Here are a couple of screen captures.
1630944861805.png


1630944884786.png
 
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Using the information posted in this thread (especially the Paulson color ad/catalog pages) I get the following timeline so far. If anyone has any other Paulson/GPI catalogs or ads with list of available colors, the timeline could probably be made more precise. The number of chip colors available at each date below does somewhat correspond to the different sizes of color sample sets floating around. It appears that Paulson may have more often released new colors in batches rather than continuously.

1630978007580.png

1630976436912.png
 

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Jeff in Iowa said:
Using the information posted in this thread (especially the Paulson color ad/catalog pages) I get the following timeline so far. If anyone has any other Paulson/GPI catalogs or ads with list of available colors, the timeline could probably be made more precise. The number of chip colors available at each date below does somewhat correspond to the different sizes of color sample sets floating around. It appears that Paulson may have more often released new colors in batches rather than continuously.

View attachment 771964
View attachment 771950
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Thank you very much! I'm still going thru all the colors and editing the original post with your help. This is going to be a good resource for everyone.
 
We should be able to go through several common large casino and fantasy sets with known dates and colors to more narrowly identify the date ranges for several of those colors that are currently listed as 1985-2003. Olivias, Crystal Parks, Vineyards, Ambassador Plaza, Condado Beach, Ritz Carlton, PNYs, Aztars, PCAs, and Grand Victorias would be good starting points.
 
I found in my files, a PDF that I while ago from either here or CT. Sorry can't recall so if anyone here recognizes it, maybe we can get a higher reso. Not sure of the exact date, but the filename has 1996c which is what I use when i don't have an exact date. Looks like it has 60 colors. I'll keep hunting around.

51432153963_6a49f0398e_b.jpg
 
gmunny said:
I found in my files, a PDF that I while ago from either here or CT. Sorry can't recall so if anyone here recognizes it, maybe we can get a higher reso. Not sure of the exact date, but the filename has 1996c which is what I use when i don't have an exact date. Looks like it has 60 colors. I'll keep hunting around.
Click to expand...
Nice find. I have access to a pretty good newspaper database, and using that I see that the "Paul-Son Dice & Cards Co." began going by "Paulson Gaming" in 1994. So that would put a range of 1994 to 2002 for that page, with 1996 being a possible date.

Very hard to decipher what the 4 missing colors are, but I think "Metallic Silver" is one of them.
 
Jeff in Iowa said:
Nice find. I have access to a pretty good newspaper database, and using that I see that the "Paul-Son Dice & Cards Co." began going by "Paulson Gaming" in 1994. So that would put a range of 1994 to 2002 for that page, with 1996 being a possible date.

Very hard to decipher what the 4 missing colors are, but I think "Metallic Silver" is one of them.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jeff. I was wondering what year they switched logos.

Yeah the quality of the PDF wasn't very good and it is hard to read some of the chips. I'll see if I magnify and list them out.
 
Jeff in Iowa said:
Nice find. I have access to a pretty good newspaper database, and using that I see that the "Paul-Son Dice & Cards Co." began going by "Paulson Gaming" in 1994. So that would put a range of 1994 to 2002 for that page, with 1996 being a possible date.
Click to expand...

Found some history here:
https://www.company-histories.com/PaulSon-Gaming-Corporation-Company-History.html

So the chronology seems to be:
Paul-Son Dice & Card Company
Paul-Son Gaming Supplies
Gaming Partners International (Paulson, Bourgogne et Grasset, Bud Jones, Dolphin, Gemaco)
Angel Holdings
 
This is what i was able to piece together. The first chip is the one that I am really not sure of. The only one that kind of works is Fuschia. The ones missing from Jeff's pre-2002 list is: Beige, Bronze, Butter Scotch, Metallic Silver and Russet.
  • Fuschia?, Purple, Royal Blue, Royal Red
  • Gold, Colon Orange, Grey, Metallic Gold, Mauve, Off White, Mustard
  • Blurple, Almond, Charcoal, Lilac, Indian Blue, Petunia, Forrest Green
  • Salmon, Mint Green, Light Blue, Apricot, Day Green, Bahama Blue, Peach
  • Sherbet Green, Day Blue, Yellow, White, Lavender, Maroon, Orchid
  • Plum, Sunrise, Rose, Chocolate, Orange, Sherbet Orange, Hot Pink,
  • Sea Green, Hawaii Flower, Showboat Grey, Dolphin Blue, Munzell Green, Watermelon, Daisy
  • Blaze Orange, Dark Green, Sky Blue, Canary Yellow, Arc Yellow, Moss Green, Dark Brown
  • Horizon Blue, Black, Radiant Red, Lime Green, Dark Blue, Red, Pink
Here's the chips in the same order. Let me know if you think any of these look wrong.

 

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