As far as I know, the first two limited editions that Lionel made were the Gold Chessie Geep and the Coke set.
The price on the Gold Chessie shot up rapidly and then sank down.
I don't remember how the Coke set did.
Both items are actually rather common and easily obtained.
IMHO, there was a period in the modern era when Lionel was either very bad at estimating demand or intentionally underproducing select items. The street price on these items shot up immediately upon release (sometimes before), and fed pre-order mania. Some folks purchased "one to go and one to show" in the hopes that they could sell the mint piece at a profit to offset the cost of the one they kept.
The prices on many, if not most of these "instant collectables" have fallen well below the old market prices, and sometimes even below the original preorder prices.
