Ship’s Wheel, C&S 1931 USPC Antique Premium Chip
Obsolete
Color: Maroon
Mold: C&S
Mfg. USPC Company
Collected By: A.J. Giametta
Logo: Ship’s Wheel
Crest & Seal, Crest or Seal, Seal & Crest and Seal or Crest. These “Cadillac” of all composition gambling chips, were originally made by the United States Playing Card Co. (U.S.P.C.), in Cincinnati, OH, from c.1907.
U.S.P.C. manufactured playing cards and other items but ceased making chips about 1947 when their molds were purchased by The Burt Co.
The Burt Co. was started as The Portland Billiard Ball Co., in Portland, ME, in 1912 by Alonzo Burt. The Burt Co. had produced C&S chips both before and after buying the U.S.P.C. molds in 1947.
In about 1985, John Kendall, a manager with the firm, bought The Burt Co. Jim Blanchard, the production manager at Burt, bought the molds and opened his own company, Atlantic Standard Molding. John Kendall named his company, Chipco International. The information in this paragraph is courtesy of Eugene Trimble.
Instead of trying to define the meaning of the term, “Crest & Seal” in my own words, I am enclosing a page from The Burt Co., courtesy of Dale Seymour. This gives you the meaning of a C&S chip direct from the words of The Burt Co.
There are chips presently being made by Bud Jones, mostly roulette, that are similar to Crest & Seals, except that there is no “seal.” You can feel the edge of the inlay by running your fingernail across the chip surface. You can not feel the inlay on a C&S chip.
