I considered poker chips before I considered doing Casascius Coins... my problem was that I couldn't strike a good balance between price, quality, and function (I wanted them to have real BTC value). But I have never done chips before so I was starting with an average hand.
I own some of your coins, and I think they're wonderful! I've shown them off at conferences I've attended. Yes, actually giving them durable BTC value is a problem and not one I'm really anxious to try to solve. But as a form of educational outreach, I think they might go over pretty well.