>>This set was intentionally made valuable by a few people.

This is not limited to this set. The whole premise to limited edition chips is to generate sales by creating an artificial rarity, increasing the value in the secondary market.

This set was not made valuable by a few people, it was made expensive by the limited edition collectors who value having these small releases. If the Opera House put out 5000 of each of these chips, they would have probably sold fewer chips (with the possible exception of the $1 chips).

The fact that collectors want the chips more when others can't have them is a reflection of the greed of collectors, not the greed of dealers or the casino.