Part of the reason I posed this question and a perfect example would be what Michael Petty mentioned. Here is a chip issue of 500 where 490 were destroyed. The public of course has no knowledge of this or perhaps doesn't even care.
On the other hand, from the collectors point of view, here we in essence now have somewhat of a "rare" (hate using that word LOL)chip where only 10 exist but if you had one, how do you convince someone that there are only 10 when all the stats say 500.

As far as New Jersey, removing 1/2 of an issue from the books does free up monies no matter how insignificant that might be but It also frees them from having to keep (I believe a mothly inventory) of these LE's. This is something else the State of N.J gets a cut out of when it comes to sales so they mandate that

Your example of chips being folded back into the regular rack might be the answer yet it just seems to convenient.
Let's face it, the Palms, again a perfect example produces quite a few collector chips. It would seem almost an impossibility that all are sold yet I doubt that the casino is flooded with numerous LE's at every table