Where'd he go?

At the Venetian yesterday I noticed that there were no Gordie Brown $5 chips in use. His run at the Venetian recently ended, and he's now appearing at Planet Hollywood. Guess they don't want to advertise him anymore.

This is the second time recently I've seen what appears to be an intentional withdrawal of specific chips from circulation. (See http://pokergrump.blogspot.com/2008/03/whered-she-go.html.) I wonder if it's the start of a trend. Or maybe it has been going on for a long time, and I just never noticed it before.