Some singles collectors have reached out asking about Hat and Cane chips they've never seen and about their origin. Chips such as..........
As we know the answer is different in each case but share a common theme, They are fantasy sets produced by Angel/Paulson/GPI, no not commercially for sale to the public, produced unknowingly (or otherwise) by Angel/GPI for individuals who either have inside contacts in the industry and have duped the company into creating them either knowingly or unknowingly by GPI, my guess is the latter. GPI is in business to make and sell chips and I think when they see an order for 50,000 or 100,000 or even larger they simply close their eyes and make em and collect their fee.
The financiers/Creators of the productions used to try and be very secretive about the chips referred to as NAGB (Not a group Buy) chips and came off as the reason was because GPI didn't sell to the public anymore and they wanted custom sets but looking at the history of these productions the motive is very obvious, profit. Many of these sets, some as old as 5 or 6 years (Guess, not looking that deep) are still being sold/traded in brand new unplayed condition so sets being made to be played with in poker games is simply a way to cover the profit scheme IMO.
The chips are pretty and bright, very flashy unlike most REAL casino chips and the later productions have been shown to be very lightweight and even warped in the case of the hot stamps right from production.
After production and the big show and suspense leading to their debut on the sales market, these chips usually splash down in the price range of $700 to well over $2000 per rack for chips produced for a mere $1.75 to around $3.00 per chip from GPI. I have been shown invoices from GPI shared by the creators or their "partners" that verify this. Boy when the data leaks out regarding this information they get pissed and drama usually rears its head! In the latest NAGB adventure which was initially portrayed to some to be a way to "reset" the prices on these type of chips back to a reasonable, non gouging level, and that they would be offered in abundance to anyone wanting them, so as to apparently "break the market" on the profiteers that preceded them, teaching the creators a "lesson", while an admirable way to get folks on board it appeared to me to be none of those things, the chips came out in public for sale in sets and then later individual racks and only available if you were an "original" buyer of the first sets sold. The system used to decide who was able to purchase was supposedly a "lottery draw", you put your order in on a google form and waited to see if you were drawn and allowed to buy, and not at resetting prices, while the sets were around $6-$9 per chip, the individual racks were $600 to $1500 a rack for the $3 cost chips, so much for the white knight of chipping. If you put in for a set the notification came via a payment request, if you didn't get awarded the privilege you simply went unanswered and watched the mail thread at PCF.
Usually in these group buys several folks are recruited to join in the buy to help finance the chips and is some kind of secret society until the chips are produced. I've heard but never seen NDA's which in the beginning were rumored to be signed by the "Partners" to maintain secrecy.
As goes chippers and chipping I've also watched as the drama unfolds as the chips are debued and one or more partners are slighted, charged more than others or even banished from the buy all together, the disgruntled partner will usually go to the forums and out what they know or air some kind of grievance regarding the deal creating even furthur drama, it's fun but sometimes hard to watch.
While all the details are out there to see in bits and pieces of threads on the forums its a lot of work to find but if you have time you can go find it all assuming admins and mods haven't removed or scrubbed the threads, while I write this in response to questions asked I'm not willing or have the time to consolidate all the drama and information in this post. If you want to post references to this stuff here feel free as this is a free speech forum, free of advertising and monetization.
Again I wanted to provide a brief synopsis of these chips as many of you have asked. I am not an expert on the chips nor claim to be just passing a bit of info I have learned along the journey.
As we know the answer is different in each case but share a common theme, They are fantasy sets produced by Angel/Paulson/GPI, no not commercially for sale to the public, produced unknowingly (or otherwise) by Angel/GPI for individuals who either have inside contacts in the industry and have duped the company into creating them either knowingly or unknowingly by GPI, my guess is the latter. GPI is in business to make and sell chips and I think when they see an order for 50,000 or 100,000 or even larger they simply close their eyes and make em and collect their fee.
The financiers/Creators of the productions used to try and be very secretive about the chips referred to as NAGB (Not a group Buy) chips and came off as the reason was because GPI didn't sell to the public anymore and they wanted custom sets but looking at the history of these productions the motive is very obvious, profit. Many of these sets, some as old as 5 or 6 years (Guess, not looking that deep) are still being sold/traded in brand new unplayed condition so sets being made to be played with in poker games is simply a way to cover the profit scheme IMO.
The chips are pretty and bright, very flashy unlike most REAL casino chips and the later productions have been shown to be very lightweight and even warped in the case of the hot stamps right from production.
After production and the big show and suspense leading to their debut on the sales market, these chips usually splash down in the price range of $700 to well over $2000 per rack for chips produced for a mere $1.75 to around $3.00 per chip from GPI. I have been shown invoices from GPI shared by the creators or their "partners" that verify this. Boy when the data leaks out regarding this information they get pissed and drama usually rears its head! In the latest NAGB adventure which was initially portrayed to some to be a way to "reset" the prices on these type of chips back to a reasonable, non gouging level, and that they would be offered in abundance to anyone wanting them, so as to apparently "break the market" on the profiteers that preceded them, teaching the creators a "lesson", while an admirable way to get folks on board it appeared to me to be none of those things, the chips came out in public for sale in sets and then later individual racks and only available if you were an "original" buyer of the first sets sold. The system used to decide who was able to purchase was supposedly a "lottery draw", you put your order in on a google form and waited to see if you were drawn and allowed to buy, and not at resetting prices, while the sets were around $6-$9 per chip, the individual racks were $600 to $1500 a rack for the $3 cost chips, so much for the white knight of chipping. If you put in for a set the notification came via a payment request, if you didn't get awarded the privilege you simply went unanswered and watched the mail thread at PCF.
Usually in these group buys several folks are recruited to join in the buy to help finance the chips and is some kind of secret society until the chips are produced. I've heard but never seen NDA's which in the beginning were rumored to be signed by the "Partners" to maintain secrecy.
As goes chippers and chipping I've also watched as the drama unfolds as the chips are debued and one or more partners are slighted, charged more than others or even banished from the buy all together, the disgruntled partner will usually go to the forums and out what they know or air some kind of grievance regarding the deal creating even furthur drama, it's fun but sometimes hard to watch.
While all the details are out there to see in bits and pieces of threads on the forums its a lot of work to find but if you have time you can go find it all assuming admins and mods haven't removed or scrubbed the threads, while I write this in response to questions asked I'm not willing or have the time to consolidate all the drama and information in this post. If you want to post references to this stuff here feel free as this is a free speech forum, free of advertising and monetization.
Again I wanted to provide a brief synopsis of these chips as many of you have asked. I am not an expert on the chips nor claim to be just passing a bit of info I have learned along the journey.
