I think your terminology needs some rethinking, Archie. A silver dollar cannot be 'redeemed', as it is real money. It can be exchanged for merchandise, though, which is one of the purposes of money (the other being to act as a store of value).

When silver certificates were in circulation, THEY could be redeemed. What you got was real money... silver coins or silver metal. These pieces of paper can no longer be redeemed, as the government has reneged on the agreement printed on their face. Since you can not redeem them, they are now obsolete, even though you can still exchange them with private citizens for merchandise.

Don't misunderstand... I'm not saying a chip is obsolete if you can't exchange it for real money. That's an argument valid for government issued currency, not private issue tokens like casino chips. Just commenting on your analogy between chips and paper "money".