Long time lurker, and first time poster. Over the years, I’ve collected some vintage clay casino and illegal poker chips. What I have noticed is that there is a real range to the weight of older clay composition chips. Some chips like those with the diamond edge mold tend to be very light, lighter for example than most hub mold chips. Some of my old Las Vegas casino Christy & Jones chips, I believe have some type of small lead slug in them, which makes them heavier than most. (I think more than 10 grams.) But Paulson casino chips from the 1980s seem lighter, and old Paulson chips made for the consumer market, such as Casino de Isthmus chips, seem even lighter.

My question is whether any of you know which edge mold clay composition chips typically are the heaviest? Which ones used metal slugs or pellets? I’ve heard that some even use bronze dust in the clay composition mixture.

I ask partly because I am looking to buy a set of about 500 vintage clay composition edge mold chips for my poker group. They come up time to time on Ebay (plain "starbust" Paulsons, Elk lodge hub molds, T.R. Kings with a simple monogram) etc. I'm not looking for anything fancy, they can be plain or with a random monograph of some sort. But I really like the feel of those heavier chips.