I think you're probably right that the smaller dice are older. When I was putting our 3/4" dice with the bright logo and sharp edges back in their spot, I noticed a smaller not-so-sharp-n-bright single that I'd forgotten we had. Like yours, it's starting to crystallize. The cars and RR track are black or navy or grunge-filled, the 97s the name and Casino are silver (but not bright silver).

Charles, I was typing this to you, and at this point decided I should do a side-by-side comparison of the dice. Sure enough, using a magnifying glass I found some subtle differences. I was going to compare with yours....and they were gone!! I went to the file upload to see if I could find 'em, I found 3 files with the same name and all were the money clip.

The difference that's easiest to spot is the word casino...on the newer dice it's all caps CASINO, on the older one it's CASiNO lower case i.

There's other differences too. The cow catcher is more detailed on the old one. The wheels on the car on the newer one are together like: oooo , on the older one there's a gap like: oo-oo (Dontcha love my graphics? )

The smoke stack is a little shorter and wider on the old one.....the link connecting the car to the engine is curved on the new one, straight on the old one....I thought it was the same logo!

p.s. We got a money clip just like that a week or two ago!