Hey Jim!

Nice catch! As you probably know, I DO collect both variations and verities of chips...
Looking at my Paulson Color Sample chips, I don't see one that could be considered as a black instead of a dark blue... Yet I would like to see one before rendering a final decision... (Have a trader?)

With respect to the '$1', it could be an alignment issue, yet it could also be a "trick" to make the text look 3-D or embossed, by shifting both the background color and the position of the from image to produce the desired effect... In the image below, the $1 on the right is just plain text, while the $1 on the right appears to stand off of the background... Or another way of thinking of it, there is a light source at 3 o'clock shining towards the $1, and the edge of the $1 that faces the light, is lighter in color (in this case, white)
This is just one possible explanation for the "registration" issue observed on the "new" $1 chip...

Regards,

Dick