Its like everything in life, rare and exclusive is King.  What makes things in life more valuable and exclusive.?  Low production runs, simple.

XY / XY GT / XY GTHO

Lets then add a South African XY Fairmont to the mix, identicle to the XY GT but an export model and worth only half as much.  Why.?  Because it doesnt have the 'GT Badge'.  Its not as exclusive.

If Stern had released the AC/DC LE* with the * meaning subject to re-release then people might have held onto their dollars and not rushed out to buy 1 of 300 and 1 of 200.  If I buy based on 1 of XXX then I certainly want my purchase to remain 1 of XXX, not one of XXX plus a re-release of XXX. Similarly, If Stern had released the AC/DC LE* with the * meaning subject to re-release then they mightn't have sold as many as quickly as they did for as much as they did, but they might sell more long term not upsetting the diehard collectors and still produced an excellent (apparently) unbastardised product.

At the end of the day GS is a business man and he'll do what ever he can to keep his investors happy, but he should never loose sight of his biggest investors - the pinball consumers.

Not wanting to steer off topic too much, but its relevant to Petes original post, I think.