Bourgogne et Grasset
Established 1923Founded in 1923 in Beaune, in the Burgundy region of France, Bourgogne et Grasset make the benchmark poker chips. Lithographer Etienne Bourgogne and engineer Claudius Grasset were working to pioneer the use of plastics for use in brooches, hair slides and plastic playing cards. They were the first to master the art of plastic film printing.
One day in 1925, Claudius Grasset read in the newspaper that a player had broken the bank at the Monte Carlo Casino with counterfeit chips made of solid ivory and mother of pearl. Bourgogne and Grasset saw an opportunity to use their plastics research and their technical skills to tackle the counterfeiting problem. They produced a new generation of chips that would offer casinos total security. They perfected an ingenious process by which the impression of the chip was protected by a thin plastic film, which made it practically impossible to imitate them. B&G are now part of the Gaming Partners International, a leading provider of casino currency and table game equipment worldwide.
Care has been taken to trace the ownership of any copyright material and to contact the owner. The author does not intend to infringe on anyone’s copyright for text, photos or otherwise. Anyone who feels that any item in these pages may have inadvertently breeched their copyright should advise the author via the contact sheet, including a link to the page, so that appropriate remedial action can be taken.
