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Crest & Seals throughout the years

There are very few records available that date when crest & seals ("C&S") were made.  Howard Herz was able to photograph sample chip books that were kept in the United States Playing Card Company ("USPC") museum.  Chips in these books were accompanied with information tags that provided, sometimes but not always, information as to date and destination.  Between that and information I've gathered from other collectors and the internet, I have provided my best guesstimate as to when the different styles of crest & seals were made.  Note that there will be exceptions to whatever is mentioned.
 
1900 to 1910  Inlays during this period were made by Whitehead & Hoag ("W&H") of Newark, NJ.  The maker of the chip is unknown.  I have no evidence, but it is my opinion that the chips were made by USPC with inlays supplied by W&H.  Note that the size of the inlays vary in size.  Several of the inlays were also used by W&H in the making of pinbacks.  In particular, the "L" (Lafayette University), Flag and jockey were all featured in W&H's catalog of pinbacks.  Although W&H produced colorful lithographs, the inlays had a habit of lifting at the edges.  The inlay was a sandwich made of paper (on which the litho was printed) and a protective celluloid covering.  As these dissimilar materials dried out, the celluloid would curl and lift the inlay.  This was never a problem for W&H in making pinbacks as on the back there was a locking ring which held the litho sandwich in place.
 
1911 to 1917 (exception: Toledo Club 1920)  These chips, inlays included, were made by USPC.  It was quite natural for USPC to make it's own inlays has they already had the machinery which they used in the production of playing cards.  Note that USPC chips have, for the most part, the same size inlay.  Also note that chips made during this time periods had holes punched into the inlay.  Having seen what happened to the inlays supplied by W&H, I assume that the holes were there to provide more of a grip.  Unlike W&H, USPC's inlay was a sandwich of two pieces of celluloid.  Paper was not used.
 
1918 to late 1940s  These chips were also made by USPC.  The only difference I can detect is that USPC stopped making holes in the inlay.  The company found it unnecessary to provide more 'grip' since the use of only celluloid in making the inlay eliminated the tendency for the inlay to lift.  The last known (to me, anyway) USPC chips were made for BPOE lodge 1747 Farmington, NM in 1948.
 
1940s to approximately 1950  These chips were made by the Burt Company of Maine.  Chips are similar to USPC chips with two major differences: 1) inlays are a bit smaller than USPC inlays; and, 2) Celluloid, which was quite expensive, flammable and toxic to work with, was replaced with plastic.  Celluloid developed a patina and darkened over time.  The plastic inlays of Burt, for the most part, remained clear as the white inlays below have shown.
 
Approximately 1950 through 1960s  In these Burt chips, the protective plastic covering appears to be thinned out quite a bit.  During this time period Burt made many of the chips for Nevada casinos.  Unlike the earlier Burt chips which had rounded edges, most of these later chips had square edges.
 
1970s  Imagination and style appear to be in short supply in Burt crest and seals made during this time period.  These chips, in my opinion, are the least desirable C&S.
1990s to present The following C&S were made be Atlantic Standard Molding, the company that succeeded the Burt Co.  Atlantic Standard's web name is PokerChipsOnline.com.  Most chips made during this time period were made for personal use or advertising.  It is clear that the inlays by ASC are more colorful then previous Burt chips.