Before the big run up in silver prices ... I sold over 300 duplicate $10 strikes to my local coin dealer for $16 each because I couldn't get $15 from strike collectors. It takes a lot of effort to compile a list of strikes and offer them for sale individually ... with no takers. It was easier to simply dump them in one fell swoop for a quick $5+ grand than dole them out one at a time. Yes, I would have gotten a higher price if I waited for the price to go up ... but the price can go down... and many of the casinos are not redeeming them even at face value!
BTW: I still have my basic collection intact... including a couple dozen $200's.