I guess I'm living in that bubble again. (G) The die charge was $250 but the chips were only 19 - 23 cents each. Still not much of a reason to make 25c chips. And yes, I can see a casino ordering the original set and figuring out that the price for the whole rack looks good, but when re-ordering the "cheap chips" they see it's not a financially viable option.
Small wonder that we will be seeing less and less of chips that cost more than the face value, to produce.