In Thomace C. Day's "Casino Tokens of Monte-Carlo" articles he goes on to explain that "Many pieces were made of Celluloid or formaldehyde, the unstable forerunners of plastic and are quickly decomposing, soon to be lost to collectors forever. The use of security stamps also seems to have taken its toll. Each night a coloured stamp was pasted on the [plaques] to ensure that all pieces in use were accounted for and had passed security inspection. The next evening the stamps were 'scrubbed' off and replaced with different stamps. Because of this rather abusive practice, many of the pieces that exist today (1988) flake and crack easilly..."

There are known photos of Monaco jetons/plaques taken in 1988 that never were on casino property, but rater well-maintained in collections that are in their original state of preservation.

Proper storage/handling is important... I once cleaned a very rare plaque from casino d'Ostende with water and after drying with a cotton cloth I left it on my desk to air-dry. When I returned 30-minutes later the piece was completely distorted...