Starburst questions... (4 Viewers)

[slivovitz]

First post, please bear with me...this is not an offer to sell or trade.

I recently realized I am in possession of 1600 Paulson Starburst in plastic Paulson shipping cases. I'm fairly certain they have never been handled and am cetain that we have had them since 1990. Four colors, White, Royal Red, Blurple, and Munzell Green. I'm trying to get up to speed on this market, there is a lot to take in.
There are a few things I'm struggling with, any help would be appreciated.
Are some colors objectively more valuable due to scarcity or is it mostly subjective?
Is the age of manufacture important i.e. are older chips (outside of the leaded v unleaded distinction) valued more? Also, how would one determine year of manufacture?
Finally, and hypothetically, would 2 sets of 800 have any less value than 1600 kept together?
I have looked for comps for this set and can't really find any. In the classified section it seems like larger sets are usually broken down eventually.
I'm not sure I will sell any but have considered the possibility of posting half so I could trade or buy other things. I truly belive that the cases or red, blue and green have not been opened since they left Paulson, the whites have some color variation but also appear mint. Any information or advice would be much appreciated.

 

[jayfiggy]

Colors can have more value than others, due to rarity and preference.

Age of manufacture is not as important as whether they are leaded or not (which I guess does tie into manufacture date). [Redacted]

Based upon my understanding there will not be a large value increase just because you have a complete set of them. Starburst are usually used for fracs, or add ons to a mixed set or already created starburst set. It’s possible someone wants the whole set though, very possible.

Very nice collection overall. You will definitely see a pretty penny if you want to sell, and i’m sure you may be able to find a cool trade.

 

[Machine]

BLAZE baby! Blaze is the money color (orange)

Chip count isn't as important as having a proper break down of chips, If you split them you want to have 2 playable sets.

From what I see, you'll want 1 or 2 racks of blue to be used as a frac

So

100 x Blue
200 x White
300 x Red (or 400!)
100 x Green
if you have black split the evenly

 

[allforcharity]

Starburst value, like almost all clay chips, depends on a) condition and b) rarity/demand.

It is generally considered that all purpose-manufactured Starburst chip are leaded. DO NOT go by weight alone.

Rarest Starbursts that have always gone for a premium are spotted ones.

Most common colours that tend to go for less are white, red, green, and black. However, there are some rarer shades of some of these colours that might go for more.

Overstamped Starbursts (such as canceled roulette chips or casino hot stamps) also tend to go for less, as many people prefer a 'clean' hot stamp look.

Starburst sets tend to get split up, as there is nothing particularly cohesive about a Starburst set, since they have no denominations.

 

[jamesjkim]

Probably best to sell by the rack (100 chips) although that means you’ll have more orders to ship out. But you’d likely maximize your value and still sell them fairly quickly. People will also likely buy more than a rack at a time.

 

[TheWhat]

Someone tell this man what they are worth.

I'll venture between $1.75 and $2.50 per chip; there is nothing spectacular here (Not to take away from the awesomeness of what you have).

 

[Tonysquander]

Welcome to PCF.

@Captn

 

[allforcharity]

Someone tell this man what they are worth.

I'll venture between $1.75 and $2.50 per chip

I think that's a bit high, by up to 40% on the low end, and 20% on the high end.

 

[upNdown]

there is nothing spectacular here

I’ll disagree with that - mint blurple starbursts are indeed spectacular.

Are some colors objectively more valuable

Yes. Those blurples are worth more than the reds, whites, and greens, and by quite a bit. They might fetch $3-4 per chip, while the other colors could be a hard sell at a buck a chip.
Because white, red, and green are the traditional colors for $1, $5, and $25, there are tons of them out there. And so they’re less interesting and will be less pricey. But they will work nicely as a set.

 

[doublebooyah85]

$1.50/chip
Blurples $2.50/chip

 

[DZPoker]

I think that's a bit high, by up to 40% on the low end, and 20% on the high end.

As someone who’s bought more than a few of the common colors, I agree $1.75/chip for Whites seems a bit high but I’d agree with @upNdown that Blurples would probably go for more than $2.50/chip in quantity.

To give some perspective @slivovitz …All of mine were bought maybe 2-4 years ago and i could get clean whites pretty easily for $1/chip then. I personally am not a fan of Munzell Green (I went with Forest) but they would have been similar back then. Royal Red would have been a bit more, maybe $1.25 then, but a rack of Blurple would have been very hard to come by. Again…these are 2-4 year ago numbers…but I bought 3000 of ‘em and don’t think they’ve changed dramatically since then.

Just my views!!!

 

[slivovitz]

I appreciate all of the information. It's obvious there is quite an extensive collection specialized knowledge here. I've played a bit of live poker and I can see why people like these chips. I could have 2 sets of...

300 White
200 Red
200 Blue(ish)
100 Green

Those seem like decent numbers for a set but I also now understand what frac means and why these are often exactly that. I want to keep a playable set and I feel like those numbers are enough (for me). I have no idea what I'd like to have instead of the other half but I'm sure it will come to me. I appreciate all the responses, it filled in some large gaps.

Welcome to PCF.

@Captn

Thank you

 

[TheWhat]

I’ll disagree with that - mint blurple starbursts are indeed spectacular.

Not seeing Blurple here.

 

[upNdown]

Not seeing Blurple here.

He called them blurple, but yeah, in the pictures they look more bluish.

 

[Irish]

The dark blue rack looks like royal blue, definitely not blurple unless the photo is waaay off. White, red and munzel green are the most common starburst colors. Value varies a bit by condition, but if they're sharp, not warped (many Starburst are warped), and have clean stamps (ie there's no stamp beneath the starburst), you're probably in the $1.50 range for everything but the royal blues, those would go for a slight premium.

 

[surfik]

Metalic would be valuable but I do not think I seen any so far

 

[Marius L]

Looks like dark green to me

 

[SpaceMonkey420]

Any luck at spinnis today?

I’m low key betting royal blues and then cherries on the reds!