[BigBrando]

Just got back from the post office after sending chips out to Nexttime and joshuadalton. 800over, if the post office near me is closed after work, I'll get yours out first thing tomorrow.

It's been a crazy day, but I finally have a chance to look these over.

My initial thoughts:

The Good

• Base color and edgespot finish and consistency - The lavender edgespots came out fantastic (much better than my camera shows) and look great with the laker purple base color. Can't wait to photograph these with the rest of the New Yorkers.
• Joshuadalton's design - obviously! Blue Chip did a great job with the photo reproduction. Also, the linen finish on the inlay matches nicely with the real New Yorkers.

The Bad

• No extras - we received no additional chips from BCC...none. I called over to find out what happened (they ordered extra inlays to make at least 50 additional chips) and those extras were "sacrificed" during the course of getting TR King's 358 mold to work. Finally having a chance to open up my two chip boxes, I discovered a few odd inlays and chipped edges so it would have been nice to have a few extra to swap in. Regardless, I suppose having these relatively few oblong and/or off-center inlays will serve as a reminder of this entire 6-month process with BCC.
• Reorder size - since we didn't get any extras, I asked what the minimum reorder size is. Turns out it is 300. It's too soon to consider a "reorder group buy" among the original four buyers, but I wouldn't rule it out. Dave assured me that they would have extras to send in our reorder to make up for their absence this time.

The Interesting

• Chip diameter - based on Samurais and Proteges, I thought BCC chips were larger in diameter - especially since we got the heavier weight. In fact, these BCC chips on the flame mold are slightly smaller in diameter (same width, by my estimate) than the Paulson New Yorkers.
• Flame Mold - I thought I would more strongly object to it as I never was a fan, but on this design it really isn't that noticeable.

Initial "Conclusion"

• Value - for approximately $1/chip, I feel the finished product is worth it. I was surprised however that, based on my 205-chip order, there seemed to be a noticeable number with "defects." Overall, nothing I can't deal with, but I never hear ASM folks make these remarks.
• Blue Chip Company - too soon to say, but it would take a special set of circumstances to have me go running back to Blue Chip for my next custom chip order. Six months is a very long time, and having been intimately involved with the ordering process I dealt firsthand with the delays and disappointments. Communication was fairly good - even when the news wasn't. Finally, after being assured that extra chips would be provided to us, it was a huge disappointment that they weren't included. Their absence, along with the TR King mold problems, would lead me to believe that BCC struggled to meet our 925-chip order (even after ordering additional inlays) - and the presence of some "defects" would seem to confirm this.

Thanks for following along. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have with this chip or with ordering through BCC.