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School me on THC chips for a set (1 Viewer)

jrs146

jrs146

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Hi all,
Although I’ve learned so much since joining I still feel like I have a lot to learn. When I caught chip fever I didn’t really know much about various Paulson molds and my first few Paulsons I acquired was a couple hundred Grand Victoria’s. I’ve since built out the set to a wonderful 1,000 piece set.

Then I saw the Jack Cincinnati $100 secondary chip and for some reason I loved it so much I felt I had to build a set around it. Also, my sons name is Jackson, my grandfathers name is Jack and I’m from Ohio originally so it’s only proper. I’ve since built a pretty large cash and tournament set.

All while doing this I’ve read about the THC mold and how desirable they are. Although I really love the sets I’ve built I wouldn’t mind changing focus to acquiring a smaller but nice THC set. The problem is I don’t know where to start.

Here’s what I’ve learned I like/dislike:

-I like authentic casino chips opposed to fantasy sets.
-I like colorful chips with unique spot patterns
-I don’t like hot stamps.
-I would prefer to stick to something where there’s a reasonable chance of acquiring enough chips. I already got stuck on another project and with my lack of patience I threw in the towel opposed to waiting for the off chance they come for sale.

so I guess what I’m asking is what would be the best options? What should I expect to pay on average?

thanks!

josh
 
jrs146 said:
What should I expect to pay on average?
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giphy.gif
 
jrs146 said:
Hi all,
Although I’ve learned so much since joining I still feel like I have a lot to learn. When I caught chip fever I didn’t really know much about various Paulson molds and my first few Paulsons I acquired was a couple hundred Grand Victoria’s. I’ve since built out the set to a wonderful 1,000 piece set.

Then I saw the Jack Cincinnati $100 secondary chip and for some reason I loved it so much I felt I had to build a set around it. Also, my sons name is Jackson, my grandfathers name is Jack and I’m from Ohio originally so it’s only proper. I’ve since built a pretty large cash and tournament set.

All while doing this I’ve read about the THC mold and how desirable they are. Although I really love the sets I’ve built I wouldn’t mind changing focus to acquiring a smaller but nice THC set. The problem is I don’t know where to start.

Here’s what I’ve learned I like/dislike:

-I like authentic casino chips opposed to fantasy sets.
-I like colorful chips with unique spot patterns
-I don’t like hot stamps.
-I would prefer to stick to something where there’s a reasonable chance of acquiring enough chips. I already got stuck on another project and with my lack of patience I threw in the towel opposed to waiting for the off chance they come for sale.

so I guess what I’m asking is what would be the best options? What should I expect to pay on average?

thanks!

josh
Click to expand...
Right now. Break out the wallet!
 
jrs146 said:
-I like authentic casino chips opposed to fantasy sets.
Click to expand...
There are THC casino chips that can be found although fantasy sets are probably easier and less expensive.
jrs146 said:
-I like colorful chips with unique spot patterns
Click to expand...
Generally, the more colorful the chip and spot pattern, the more expensive it is.
jrs146 said:
-I don’t like hot stamps.
Click to expand...
There are plenty of non hot stamp THCs.
jrs146 said:
-I would prefer to stick to something where there’s a reasonable chance of acquiring enough chips. I already got stuck on another project and with my lack of patience I threw in the towel opposed to waiting for the off chance they come for sale.
Click to expand...
It could take a while to collect a THC set of all the same casino unless someone puts up a whole set for sale. If you are willing to do a mixed set, it can be a lot easier.
jrs146 said:
so I guess what I’m asking is what would be the best options? What should I expect to pay on average?
Click to expand...
Keep your eyes on the classifieds and expect to pay a decent amount for good THCs. The prices have skyrocketed it seems. A quick search of the classified posts can give you an idea about general prices and the more common chips available.

(I'm no expert though.)
 
Easiest and perhaps cheapest to acquire would be hot stamped solids around $1 each which you can then semi-customize with a mill and relabel job. Everything else goes up price wise very quickly.
 
New chipper here myself and I also just recently became interested in the THC mold. I currently have 2 different RHC sets (Terribles, and IOC) and have started working on a THC mixed set. Well today my first rack of THC's (Flamingo's) arrived and I am BLOWN AWAY by the difference. Obviously the look is different but the FEEL and SOUND are what really shocked me. It is hard to describe but the chips FEEL so much different and in a really good way. I read about it on this forum but kind of found it hard to believe. I just figured they are all Paulson's and the molds should be similar. This is now obvious to me that is not the case.

Just my 2 cents.
 
BlueMerle said:
I am BLOWN AWAY by the difference. Obviously the look is different but the FEEL and SOUND are what really shocked me. It is hard to describe but the chips FEEL so much different and in a really good way.
Click to expand...
Preface - I’ve been obsessed with leaded THCs since I figured out the difference, after about a year of chipping.

I played in a limit game last weekend where we each started with a rack from a different casino. My rack was unleaded house molds but that was cool; I was glad to play with them. They were in mint condition, and I appreciate all decent chips, not just the ones I’m personally obsessed with.
Anyway, we were having a blast, playing different weird games and joking around and I wasn’t even thinking about chips. And then I tossed out a bet - the top two chips on my stack (which would have been somebody else’s chips that I recently raked in) - and there was that beautiful sound. It pulled me out of whatever poker reality I was in, and put me squarely in chip geek mode for a minute. And sure enough, those two chips were leaded. At least one of them was a THC - I can’t recall if the other was a THC or a house mold. But the point was, the sound was so noticeably different than unleaded chips that it grabbed my attention when I wasn’t even paying attention.

Yes, THC mold chips are better. I know that’s technically a subjective opinion, but the only reason I can think somebody might argue for RHCs is bigger inlays equal more art. But in my opinion, In every other way, THCs are better. And you won’t get a lot of arguments there.
Okay, here’s where it gets expensive. As much as THCs are better than RHC, leaded THCs are that much better than unleaded THCs. The fact that they’ll come with inlays that are textured and possibly shaped is almost literally the icing on the cake.
So in response to @BlueMerle , you’re right.

In response to @jrs146 , you should figure it out for yourself. Find the THCs that you love so much that you actually WANT to have the patience and take however long it takes to find them. It won’t be cheap or easy. As others have said, the better the colors and spots are, the more expensive things will get. You could find some unleaded $1s in decent shape for as little as $2.00-$2.50 per chip. But if you’re looking for THC $5s and fracs in better than casino used condition, you’re probably talking more like $5 or more per chip. And if you want leaded, you can just double all those prices. And that’s IF you can find anybody willing to sell. Which is a big hurdle these days.
And tournament chips will be impossible. You can go for fantasy chips or you can relabel, or you could start looking at prices like $20 per chip to try to pry away high denom cash chips from somebody. But inlaid THC casino tournament chips are unicorns - they pretty much don’t exist.
I don’t say all this to discourage you. I say it to encourage you to realize that there aren’t any easy answers to your question. You need to put in A LOT of time and probably a lot of money to find exactly what you say you’re looking for. Or unlimited ridiculous amounts of money - we’ve seen that work pretty well too.
 
upNdown said:
Preface - I’ve been obsessed with leaded THCs since I figured out the difference, after about a year of chipping.

I played in a limit game last weekend where we each started with a rack from a different casino. My rack was unleaded house molds but that was cool; I was glad to play with them. They were in mint condition, and I appreciate all decent chips, not just the ones I’m personally obsessed with.
Anyway, we were having a blast, playing different weird games and joking around and I wasn’t even thinking about chips. And then I tossed out a bet - the top two chips on my stack (which would have been somebody else’s chips that I recently raked in) - and there was that beautiful sound. It pulled me out of whatever poker reality I was in, and put me squarely in chip geek mode for a minute. And sure enough, those two chips were leaded. At least one of them was a THC - I can’t recall if the other was a THC or a house mold. But the point was, the sound was so noticeably different than unleaded chips that it grabbed my attention when I wasn’t even paying attention.

Yes, THC mold chips are better. I know that’s technically a subjective opinion, but the only reason I can think somebody might argue for RHCs is bigger inlays equal more art. But in my opinion, In every other way, THCs are better. And you won’t get a lot of arguments there.
Okay, here’s where it gets expensive. As much as THCs are better than RHC, leaded THCs are that much better than unleaded THCs. The fact that they’ll come with inlays that are textured and possibly shaped is almost literally the icing on the cake.
So in response to @BlueMerle , you’re right.

In response to @jrs146 , you should figure it out for yourself. Find the THCs that you love so much that you actually WANT to have the patience and take however long it takes to find them. It won’t be cheap or easy. As others have said, the better the colors and spots are, the more expensive things will get. You could find some unleaded $1s in decent shape for as little as $2.00-$2.50 per chip. But if you’re looking for THC $5s and fracs in better than casino used condition, you’re probably talking more like $5 or more per chip. And if you want leaded, you can just double all those prices. And that’s IF you can find anybody willing to sell. Which is a big hurdle these days.
And tournament chips will be impossible. You can go for fantasy chips or you can relabel, or you could start looking at prices like $20 per chip to try to pry away high denom cash chips from somebody. But inlaid THC casino tournament chips are unicorns - they pretty much don’t exist.
I don’t say all this to discourage you. I say it to encourage you to realize that there aren’t any easy answers to your question. You need to put in A LOT of time and probably a lot of money to find exactly what you say you’re looking for. Or unlimited ridiculous amounts of money - we’ve seen that work pretty well too.
Click to expand...
Thank you. This is pretty much what I was expecting to hear. I think my best bet is to just keep my eye on the classifieds and see what happens.
 
jrs146 said:
Thank you. This is pretty much what I was expecting to hear. I think my best bet is to just keep my eye on the classifieds and see what happens.
Click to expand...
Yes. The TL;DR version is, watch the classifieds and have $5k to $10k+ ready, and maybe you’ll get lucky.
 
@upNdown if your telling me leaded THC's are that much better than regular THC's then I am absolutely doomed.

Maybe I can refinance my house.
 
BlueMerle said:
@upNdown if your telling me leaded THC's are that much better than regular THC's then I am absolutely doomed.

Maybe I can refinance my house.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I’m telling you exactly that. When you feel that textured inlay and you hear that lead clink and you feel that extra couple of grams, you’ll know.
And I hate to sound like a jerk when I say this, but every time I end up with a rack of unleaded THCs, I have to get rid of them, because to me, they pale in comparison to the best.
I won’t argue with the guys blowing $5-$10+ per chip on unleaded NAGB chips because those have crazy colors, and to some people, that’s the most important thing.
And I’ve never had $10k to drop on a chipset, so I wouldn’t argue with the people who simply decide it isn’t cost effective. But I do have time to check eBay every day, and if I get a chip or two a week, a couple of small lots here and there - if that’s the only way I can do it, well at least I have a hobby.
 
jrs146 said:
Thank you. This is pretty much what I was expecting to hear. I think my best bet is to just keep my eye on the classifieds and see what happens.
Click to expand...
@upNdown pretty much nailed it. You gotta just poke around and get a feel for what you like and what you don't. It kind of sounds from your OP that you have a pretty good grasp on that.

The only thing I want to add is that most sales happen organically around here. The classifieds and eBay are useful... but you're better off doing some research after you figure out what you want. Use the search function to see who might have what you're looking for and reach out to those people. It's a scavenger hunt... and you need to be creative in what's unfortunately become a rather competitive market.
 
Just out of curiosity, do leaded 43 mm chips exist? Looking for a 43 mm candidate for a 1k chip to complete my FLV set.
 
Goldfish said:
Just out of curiosity, do leaded 43 mm chips exist? Looking for a 43 mm candidate for a 1k chip to complete my FLV set.
Click to expand...
These come to mind. 43mm and definitely leaded. Would be pretty badass as an FLV 1K. Not sure if anyone has them in quantity though.

1627734900917.jpeg
 
@upNdown do the leaded THC's have a similar feel to unleaded THC's or are they a completely different chip? I get they are going to be heavier but do they have that same "softer" feel that the THC mold has vs the "hard" RHC mold? What is crazy to me is that Paulson seems to be using a totally different compound with the THC mold and RHC mold.
 
BlueMerle said:
@upNdown do the leaded THC's have a similar feel to unleaded THC's or are they a completely different chip? I get they are going to be heavier but do they have that same "softer" feel that the THC mold has vs the "hard" RHC mold? What is crazy to me is that Paulson seems to be using a totally different compound with the THC mold and RHC mold.
Click to expand...
Hmm
I have always assumed that GPI/Paulson is using the same unleaded clay in THCs and RHCs. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me otherwise. I can’t explain why casino used RHCs begin to feel like plastic, but casino used (unleaded) THCs do not. I’ve noticed it and just assumed it was a quirk of the mold. But maybe you’re right; it’s certainly possibly that they’re using different clay.
As to whether leaded THCs feel similar to unleaded THCs, I think so? I’m not sure about the condition of the chips you’re handling. Now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever handled mint unleaded THCs.
I just checked my case of extras, and I currently own exactly one unleaded THC chip. I haven’t handled them in quantity in a long time, and it’s tough to evaluate the feel of a single chip. And it’s tough for me to evaluate the feel of the clay of a chip with a textured inlay, compared to the feel of a chip with a smooth inlay, because of the night and day difference in inlays. So I don’t think I’m equipped to give an answer to that question. But if I had to I guess id say that the leaded THCs feel similar but better than unleaded THCs.
Hopefully other people will share their opinions.
 
If the OP lacks patience, he 's gonna need lots of money.
He could just ask the two or three people with presumably the biggest THC collections what they could let go for $10K.
 
So this leaded THC vs not leaded THC discussion has me really curious. As someone very new to collecting Paulson chips, is there a definitive source to tell which is which. I'm assembling my first THC set now. Based on the prices I've paid, I assume everything I have is not leaded, but how do I know for sure?

Same with buying and selling chips. I've seen sellers asked in their ads and responding that they don't know. Then someone will chime in. But how to know if they are right or not? Is there a specific weight per chip that tells you it's leaded, or not?
 

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