This is a continuation of the discussion started by A. J. a couple of days ago about a "Blue" Barbary Coast "BG" Roulette Chip that he had recently found.

I have put together a few scans of Paulson "Blue" color sample chips that show how hard it is to figure out exactly what color a chip is when you do NOT have a chip in fairly unused condition to compare to the Manufacturer's color sample. Also the color of the Sample chips with the same names varies from one Sample to the other.

I took the 4 Barbary Coast "Blue" Roulette chips I have in my collection and surrounded them with various Paulson "Blue" color sample chips. Unfortunately I don't have A.J.'s Blue chip to make a side by side comparison.

Looking at the scans of the surfaces of the chips I would say the 2 Darker Color "Blue" chips I have most closely resemble the "Navy" Paulson Samples.

The 2 Lighter "Blue" chips I have most closely resemble the "Aqua" Paulson Samples but I would call both of these chips "Light" Blue to differentiate them from the 2 "Darker" Blue chips.

To further help determine the color of the Dark Blue chips, I gently scraped the edge of the 2 chips with a sharp knife to reveal the chip color without the surface dirt and wear. I found that the 2 chips are all slightly different colors.

In many cases Casinos use exactly the same color chips on all the Roulette Tables, but some Casinos use different colors on each Table. Barbary Coast definitely used different colors of chips on their 2 Roulette Tables even though the colors were very similar in some cases.

Putting the edges of the Dark Blue chips side by side and comparing them to the edges of the Sample chips I believe A.J.'s chip the 2nd one in the stack is NOT "Navy" Blue but another color of Blue - that being "Royal" Blue.

As far as the info concerning "Bleeding" of the Blue chip color - I am not aware of "Navy" Blue chips having a history of severe Bleeding. On the other hand, I am also not sure if "Royal" Blue chips are prone to "Bleeding" but I doubt it.

I post all of this just to show how difficult it is to determine the true color of a chip with out having the chip placed next to the Manufacturer's color sample. Also if the chip is not in unused condition, it is very difficult to figure out the true color of the chip in question.

Usually the best we can do, lacking manufacturer's or Gaming Control records is to compare know chips of similar color to other chips from the same Series and refer to them as "Light" (something) and "Dark" (something) ie. Light Blue and Dark Blue.

My conclusion: The Black Center chip is "Navy" Blue and the White Center chip A.J. found is "Royal" Blue. However, for simple identification purposes the chips could both be merely designated as "Dark" Blue.

I welcome your comments.

Take care,
Jerry