collecting anything as an investment is always risky. What makes a chip valuable? the real answer to what makes anything valuable, regardless of what you as a collector think it is worth, is what somebody else is willing to pay for it. Technically speaking, a chip is "worth" only the face value IF it can still be redeemed at the cage. if it can no longer be redeemed at the cage then it is technically only "worth" the cost of the materials that it is made from. The worth or value the chip may have beyond either the raw material cost or the face value cost is the premium that another buyer is willing to place on owning that chip. nothing more. technically speaking, this is the same concept that places a value on any antique or collectible: art, car, sports or Hollywood memorabilia, etc. This is why when an item comes up for auction and a bidding war ensues between two people that results in a sale price far higher than the pre-auction estimate. each individual placed such a premium on ownership that they were willing to pay a certain amount above and beyond the pre-sale estimate.

This is also why things at auction don't sell or will sell for far less than the estimate. if nobody present at the auction is willing to pay that premium then the sale price "value" falls.

if you own the only known sample of a particular item in the entire world, how much is it worth? not a darn thing if you are also the only person in the entire world that wants that particular item. if only one other person in the world wants it, then it's only worth what he is willing to pay for it. if 100 people in the world want it, then you could probably determine what the market value of that item is with reasonably certainty.

In a nutshell, rarity of an item is only part of what determines a collectible's value. Sure, a one of a kind or rare item should in theory be valued higher than a common, run of the mill item. but it's really the buyer that determines the value because you can't sell it for any value if no buyer will purchase it at your asking price. if you can't sell it, the price/perceived value may be too high.

Chip collecting is a fairly small niche collectible so there are just going to be fewer buyers for chips than say collectors of Hollywood memorabilia, sports collectibles, antique clocks, etc. So, you have a small segment of society collecting items. if nobody in that niche desires an item you are selling, it's "value" is low even if you paid a premium for it. It's simple economics. You have a supply with no demand. price must drop before a person will be willing to make the purchase.

unless you're talking super premium chips, one should probably never get into chip collecting as an investment. I collect only a small subset of chips and I'm perfectly content just searching those out. I have no desire to have a huge collection of chips from all casinos nor am I looking to acquire only expensive chips. I doubt I'll get back what I've paid because I have paid a premium for some chips because a the time I made the purchase, I valued my personal ownership of the chip high enough to pay the asking price. if I sold that chip, somebody else may not value it as high and I may not be able to sell it for my purchase price. that's just the way it goes.