It always depends on how motivated the buyer is and the perceived value. This goes for auctions, eBay, coins, (fill in something enjoyable from diecast cars to depression glass to wooden lures) and everything else that people collect.

The market goes up and down. High value items will hold their value, much better than average and common items. So a casino chip - since that's the question - from 1940 where only a few known will be expected to sell, if one is available, at "book". While eBay for a chip that's on the tables or recent, will probably go for much less than standard chip values.

There's a great middle of chips which aren't scarce or rare, but aren't easily available or common. Plus, the demand. I can use myself. I collect Wisconsin chips, tribal or anything else. There's little demand for these, even though they are sometimes more difficult to find than some higher value Las Vegas. nd there's the other half. Las Vegas will always bring more than anyplace else.

After that it depends on what the collector collects and what they enjoy and are looking for. So some Lake Tahoe is probably worth more than Ca card room, based on overall demand. It's Nevada vs CA. Atlantic City has it's own attraction and group of collectors. Riverboats, and possibly each area and state, just like Wisconsin comes next on the list.

More opinion. Book value is what a motivated buyer will pay, retail. If the chip is harder to find, from some location that's more popular, they are more "motivated". EBay is the reality of what people will pay, at the bottom line. You can have high sales on eBay and low. Sometimes it depends on the luck of two interested buyers at the same time.

One buyer? There's a message. The item doesn't have a high demand, or others just didn't happen to be looking at the same time. Many time, listed items have no bids. There's something in that as well. It could be that the right people were not interested at the right time, or it could mean that the opening asking price is over the real value.

We all want to get the best price and best value when we buy and at the same time want the best return when we sell. And there it is, as simple as can be.

Book value = are you buying or are you selling?

Chip Value = are there people looking for the particular item for their collection or just speculating?

Chip collecting is not dead anymore than stamps or coins or banknotes. Interest has just passed the point of boom, and leveled off into a stable hobby. I expect that this will mean, common chip prices will be lower, because of lower demand. High value items will remain high value, because of the serious interest and demand. Middle value items will fluctuate by who's interested at the current time.