Hi Paul

Please remember that the majority of my original comments were based on your pictures sent to me, before I had the chance to examine the actual chip.
Now that I actually have two other Diamond Square chips to hand for comparison, from the 1950's, I can explain the differences visually.

I ought to point out that while you made no reference of any paperwork before, it doesn't make any difference to my conclusions, and it appears that it merely states the dealers verbally obtained story as at 2001. In no way could this be really regarded as provenance for something from 40 years earlier. Paperwork from the original era would be the only thing that would satisfy that. I should also mention that while you say now you approached me as you wanted a completely independent view, you did keep suggesting you were convinced they were real.

My thoughts on the auction starting price were based on the fact that where in the past similar items from other Presidents have been auctioned, they have sold in the $50k-$100k price range with starting prices not much lower than that. The obvious hesitation by Heritage to start this set at a high price really leads me to think they are not entirely convinced.

Anyway, on to the inlays etc.
First, a little more detail for you and anyone else.

Prior to the 1980's, inlays were made of a cellulose layer with a fine plastic 'lens' overlay layer, so they were 'two part'. Note from the 2 Nevada Club chips shown (and any other chip from that era you care to look at) that the inlays are not sharp white, simply because the cellulose was never white to start with. (Note also that for comparison all 4 chips scanned are in new condition).

From the 1980's until around 2005, inlays were printed on gloss paper by way of offset litho, and that paper was laminated between a white plastic layer and a clear 'lens' layer, so they were 'three part'. From 2005 on they were printed on a high quality ink-jet printer on a semi gloss slightly opaque photographic paper, again sandwiched between two other layers as above. Consequently the white is fractionally less bright than the 1980-2005 paper versions.

Aside from this being pretty conclusive proof, I have no need to take the JFK chip apart as I was able to fractionally lift the edge of one inlay that wasn't perfectly stuck and can confirm it is 3 part.

One last thing to point out. No matter how high res I scanned these I couldn't show the 3-D effect I wanted. This mold is many years old, but back in the 1950's it was relatively new, and the edges of the diamonds and squares on those old chips is razor sharp and square. On your chip and the modern sample they are clearly rounded. This has occurred because of the many years of wear on that mold.
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