Just a guess Brian.

A Former chip dealer paid for the chips and had an arrangement with a casino to have them all delivered to him instead of made available at the casino. The Former chip dealer is a Former chip dealer because he lost his ass by trying to be the sole owner of a limited edition run. The chips were probably approved by Gaming, so the casino probably got them back for the cost of manufacture, or maybe less, when the Former chip dealer got stuck by trying to corner a market while cheating collectors. If this is the scenario, he sold them to the casino, they are live chips, but, and this is a big but, if he sold or kept any of these chips before they were returned to the casino, control of the chip issue is not resolved.

Again, this is just a guess on my part. Don't cheat, and sometimes you'll get caught being honest!
Bob