Let me start by saying that people should collect whatever they want.

You wrote:
What Mark had said about art and everything does come in to play. The chips that I collect I pick up because they are little pieces of art. They are unique expressions of something historical or commemorative etc. I don't need something that no one else has but I don't want something that Everyone has or that every casino has produced. If everyone has it or has produced it, it is not unique.

If you choose them because they are art, that is fine, of course there is more to it than that, after all those commemorative Elvis plates sold in the Sunday Newspaper are art also. So why do you choose casino chips? Because you like I and most of the people on this board for some reason prefer casino chips. I have begun to feel that many of these LEs are nothing more than really small commemorative plates and have little to do with casinos or gambling.

I personally would prefer it if all these chips were made with the intention of putting them on the tables, thus actually making them something more than a commemorative plate. But that is my personal preference some will agree some won't.

But if you like them because they are art, I do not understand why it matters whether everyone else has one. It it any less art because there are many of them?

Most of the problems associated with these low issues are not caused by the greed of casinos, but by the greed of collectors. It is the rarity itself which drives collectors to seek these chips.

Take for example the HR $25 Cure chip. Although I had been a fan of the Cure in the past, I doubt that there were many Cure fans among collectors (most of you being OLD). The chip was not particularly attractive. Sure there are collectors who collect all the Hard Rock chhips, but lets face it demand for that chip should not be very high. However the chip was issued in a small number (which was probably high enough that every person who was truly interested in the chip could have had one), Now we see that the chip will be hard to get, we want the chip because we want to have hard to get chips and also maybe because if we ever sell we figure this one will go up in value due to the small issue. Demand for this chip goes way up and the chip is selling for hundreds of dollars days after being issued.

Question -- if that chip was issued in a quantity of say 2,000 how many collectors would want one? I guarantee that number is much less than the number of collectors who wanted one when they came out in the much smaller number.

IS THAT THE CASINOS FAULT? NO. That is the collector's fault. And while I sympathize with the collector who can't get the chip that he would otherwise have wanted, I no longer have any sympathy for those who complain that they can't get a chip that the only reason they want is because it is hard to get. And unfortunately many of these collectors are not being honest with themselves about their motivations.