The metal inlays are almost certainly "coined". That is, a metal blank is struck in a press by a hardened metal die, the same process that is used to make coins and tokens. You can't melt the metal with a hot die the way you do when you hot-stamp plastic or clay-composition... the metal's hard and has a high melting point and requires great pressure to move it around and make the image you want on the inlay.

It seems to me that if it were possible to put marking on the blank at the same time it is coined, we would have seen that done on coins or tokens. I can't recall ever seeing this done. So, I just don't know how Bud Jones did the manufacturing of the black-letter CIC chips in the early days. I was hoping someone might have the information and could reveal it on the board since the company is gone and no one needs casino chips made that way any more.