Quoted from PinStalker:

Yup, I agree.
My wife used to work in the art world..... and it was all the same game: Limited this, exclusive that.... in the end, none of it meant a thing. You'd run one print at a certain size and that was a "limited edition". Then the artist would go back and sign another run of the same print, now it was a different "limited edition". Then they'd go back, print out the same print and have the artist put a couple hand drawn dots on the print (such as white areas in wave highlights, or blue in the sea, or put a star or two in the sky) and that was another "limited edition".
When all that was done, they'd go back and make a different size of the print and run the same scam all over again.... all new runs of "limited editions".
The buyers all thinking they had a "one of a kind, special thing", which they did but so did several thousand other people. HA!!
Only once a painting was "retired" would it end, but even then wait a couple decades and a new printing technology comes out promising "better" and the cycle starts all over again.
Pinheads (or any niche) are the same marks that exist in any hobby or interest. Many want something that others can't have, the same snobby elitism that pervades everything (sadly). For many it isn't about having something good, it's only about having something that others can't so they feel better about themselves.
In art there is only one way to actually achieve this: The Holy Grail: The original painting.
Can't do this in pinball since there is no singular original, but you could come close to it: A Reference Grade Pinball machine made in very limited quantities (similar to the fanatic audiophile and vintage audiophile communities). While the pin community thinks that's what an LE is (since that's all they've ever known) the truth is "standard" Limited Editions are nothing special in most other niches and are used liberally and loosely.
Stern and the other pins makers need to figure this out.... fast. Their growth and ability to sustain a healthy audience depends on it. Rule #1 of business is to give the paying consumer what they want, and most people in any niche want a special number on the item giving them a false sense of security that their purchase was a smart one.