"Are you telling me the '94 HAN is not obsolete because I can get one from the cage, but the '95 is obsolete because they're sold out? And that the '94 was obsolete last year when I couldn't get any, but then magically became current again when somebody redeemed 60 of them? I just can't fathom your logic."

That's exactly what I'm saying Larry.... although I disagree with your terminology "that they became current again" because of some hypothetical fluke where somebody turned in 60 of them ... and somebody else just as hypothetically may have hypothetically bought up the 60 chips.... yes, that would be an isolated case of, or maybe an exception, as an obsolete chip in my view.

What does a casino do with thousands and thousands of previously issued LE chips? Just keep them all on the shelves in the vault, hoping that somebody is going to ask to purchase them whle they keep ordering more and more new ones?

You cite your home town of Reno in your example. Let me give you a similar real-life comparison here in Atlantic City. Claridge stopped issuing LE's because they had so many unsold/unwanted LE chips in their vault that they said they were not going to order any new LE's until their old LE inventory went down. The only way to get inventory down is to sell them or to destroy them.

"You didn't get my point on the 1965 quarter. Fine. Let me try again. Imagine this... George Washington Billionare was born in 1965. In the city wherever the "D" (Denver) quarter is minted. For the last 15 years, every since he turned 21, he's been hoarding 1965-D quarters. He goes to the bank and buys bags of quarters, and keeps all the 1965-Ds he can find. He hires people in other cities to do the same. He wants them all, and he can afford to seek them out. So, after 15 years of this, you and I have a hard time finding a 1965-D. Oh, they exist, they turn up now and then, but if I went to a bank to find one, I probably wouldn't. OK, I know it's a far fetched example, only because nobody would really do that. But... if someone did... would that make the 1965-D quarter obsolete? The US Mint certainly isn't going to make any more 1965 quarters!"

Larry, how about getting real and dealing in the possible or plausible .... not the impossible. 1965d quarters were minted at the Denver Mint and were distributed to banks primarily all over the southwest.... although through normal channels of commerce, they do migrate throughout the rest of the country... much like Nevada casino chips find their way to the east coast.

OK, one more example. Let's say, hypothetically, for some reason or no good reason, it doesn't matter, they only made a few thousand 1965-D quarters, whereas they make millions of every other year and letter. Over the last 36 years 99% of them have been filtered into private collections, or are held by dealers and only available at far more than face value. Now is it obsolete?

In my opinion? Yes! Not only are they obsolete, but with a mintage of a few thousand are very, very "RARE"! No, let's not go there Larry!