... understand:
1. There are a lot of "cross collectors" who collect anything Hard Rock. Most are yuppie types with a lot of money to waste. By limiting the availability of their chips, HR keeps the buzz going -- supporting the sale of pins and all their other junk.
2. There are some chip collectors who are "accumulators". That is, they must have one of everything they collect and price is no object.
3. There are a group of "Greedy Gus's" (insiders and others) who are after these chips simply because they can expect a 5 or 10 times return on their costs.

On the good side, however, is the several New Issue Service providers who get these chips for their customers at normal prices, even though they could get several times that on e-Bay.