After having accumulated quite a lot of antique poker chips over the past couple of years, I though I'd try to restore the image on some of the engraved chips which have either lost, or never had, the paint in the incuse area of the design. Someone told me there was a 'paint stick' you could get a an art supply store, so I stopped by today and got what I think they meant: a box of oil-pastels. These seem to be the same kind of 'colored chalk' we worked with in art class in school, but have some kind of oil to hold the powdered pigment together.

It seems to work pretty well. The image below of a Home Sweet Home chip shows the before and after. This chip had no paint at all in the image to start with. What I'm wondering is how permanent this restoration is and whether anyone has found a better method?

I did find that you should not expect to restore worn chips this way. The pastel goop will not fill in the image if it doesn't have sharply defined edges.

Also, I found you shouldn't try this on a chip that is either so worn or has been cleaned so the chip surface is not smooth and sealed. The goop doesn't wipe off cleanly in that case and you wind up with a smudged appearance. I did find that naphtha cleaning solvent will remove the stuff, even if it has adhered to a roughened surface.

Comments from other antique poker chippers? Is this kind of restoration heresy to the antique purist?

I haven't tried this on hot stamped casino chips that have lost their foil but suspect it will not work as the stamped image is too broad and typically doesn't have sharp vertical sides like an engraved chip.

DonL