[Damon]

Curious about whether the new custom set that I ordered from BCC could possibly contain *gasp* lead, I stopped by Home Depot & picked up a couple home lead tests. I've read that although these tests cannot tell you the exact lead levels in paint, toys, etc, they are reliable for testing for the presence of lead. I used the Homex Lead Check brand swab tests, which Consumer Reports touts as one of the "easiest to use". In a comparison of 4 home lead tests, Consumer Reports also did not mention any "false negatives" with this Homex test - which appears to be one of the better home kits.

I tested 6 different chips and the results are posted below. I kind of expected the Paulson chips to test positive for lead, so I only tested the surface of the chips. For the ASM and BCC chips, I actually snapped the chips in half and tested them right through to the core. I used a new swab on every chip. Here are the results...

Chip 1 - Paulson Casino - White $1 Rio, Las Vegas, NV:
Tested POSITIVE for lead (turned pink) within several seconds, as expected

Chip 2 - Paulson Home - White $1 James Bond:
Turned pink (POSITIVE for lead) within several seconds of application. Test result was identical to the Paulson casino chip.

Chip 3 - Blue Chip Co Home - Sherbert Green $.25 Fan of Cards:
No reaction even after 2 hours. NEGATIVE for lead.

Chip 4 - Blue Chip Co Home - White T-mold Blank:
No reaction even after 2 hours. NEGATIVE for lead.

Chip 5 - Blue Chip Co Home - Dolphin Blue Sidepot In Play Sample:
No reaction even after 2 hours. NEGATIVE for lead.

Chip 6 - Atlantic Standard Molding - Gray $.25 Hensel Cardroom (my customs):
No reaction even after 2 hours. NEGATIVE for lead.

Sorry I don't have any pics of the tested chips, but I did find exactly what I expected to find. Both Paulson chips tested positive for lead nearly immediately. All 3 of the BCC chips (2 color samples sent to me by BCC and a T-mold blank from HPC) tested negative for lead. My ASM custom chip also tested negative for lead, as expected.

I don't know how BCC makes their chips heavier, but it DOES NOT appear to be through the use of lead in their clay. ASM also DOES NOT appear to use lead in their clay mix. Most of us that have been here for more than a few days already know that ASM uses brass to add weight to their chips.

So, if you have concerns about the possibility of lead in your ASM or BCC chips, go out and buy a test kit and see for yourself. They're not exactly expensive - a little over $5 for 2 swabs at Home Depot.

P.S. - BCC chips are a beeeeeyotch to crack in half. My hand is killing me. I finally had to balance each on two other chips and stab them with a screwdriver to convince them to submit to my will.

[Roc-A-Fella_1]

Nice study. The findings aren't that suprising aren't they?

Thanks for the hard work to prevent lead poisoning here at CT!


PS - You could have just used some pliers to snap them chips in half.

[john]

nice to know - i bought 400 t-molds the other day.

[asam2006]

Send all your lead filled Paulsons to me

[RadixLecti]

Originally Posted by asam2006

Send all your lead filled Paulsons to me

... or to me. Either way is fine... although the latter alternative is finer.

[Damon]

At least the shipping would be pretty cheap; I've only got a handful of Paulson chips. I wasn't actually concerned for my health. It's just that there has been a lot of scare-talk lately about lead in poker chips and my curiosity simply got the best of me. I figured I'd post my findings here in case anyone else was curious.

[ovo]

Originally Posted by RadixLecti

... or to me. Either way is fine... although the latter alternative is finer.

or to me. Either Either way is fine... although the latter latter is finer.

[PFunk]

Havent been following this lead thing much, honestly dont really care if my poker chips have lead in them in relation to health scare stuff, but I wonder if the new home lines of paulson chips have lead in them too, because all the sudden Paulson chips were warped to hell out of nowhere and I wonder if thats related to the lead issue-


P.

[br1027]

Damon - That's interesting that your BCC came back negative. I sent my to a lab to be tested and they all tested positive. The lower denominations were within fed gov't guidelines and the $25 chip exceed the limits by almost 10 times what's considered safe.

[mizuchaud]

Originally Posted by br1027

Damon - That's interesting that your BCC came back negative. I sent my to a lab to be tested and they all tested positive. The lower denominations were within fed gov't guidelines and the $25 chip exceed the limits by almost 10 times what's considered safe.

I think you're going to have to post photos and descriptions of colors used...