What is a Crest & Seal Chip?
by Allan Myers There have been many questions lately concerning Crest & Seal Chips. What are they? What is the “crest”? What is the “seal”? Where and when were they made? I will try to answer these questions. They have been called 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 These “Cadillac” of all composition gambling chips, were originally made by the United States Playing Card Co. (U.S.P.C.), in Cincinnati, OH, from c.1907.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. continues to manufacture 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
