I have no real knowledge about how record companies work in respect of limited edition releases but I know that, for uncommon configurations of some Dylan albums in the last decade, Sony headquarters would contact each of the sales territories in advance and ask how many copies of a particular configuration they would expect to sell. This was to determine the production run numbers which, in turn, might affect the retail price. It is possible that the same happened in respect of the de luxe PRIVATEERING. So, if Germany was the first to give a number (say, 200 copies), then the first 200 would be allocated to Germany. Other countries would then come in with their numbers and get their own allocation. If germany came in later with an increased number of potential sales, this second tranche of albums destined for Germany would have a set of numbers much higher than the first tranche.
Just an idea!
To expand further, one Dylan release produced a special engraved edition of one of the Apple players, loaded with the tracks on the album. It was limited to 200 copies, each copy had a unique number (99 of 200 etc) and it was highly desirable. Even though it was not available publicly, there was a great demand for it, so they produced another batch. As it happens, a friend in the music business got one for me. It was numbered something like: 237 of 200! Why? Because they only had the facility to amend the first number and the second numbered was programmed into the engraving machine.
Now to the BLOOD ON THE TRACKS album on eBay. It wasn't really a promo (in the sense that it was not produced for promotional purposes). Dylan had recorded the album in New York, had selected the tracks and had sequenced the album and, at the last minute, decided to re-recordsome tracks during his Christmas break on his farm in Minnesota. The original set of recordings were made into LPs for "internal use" and not for public consumption. Ineveitably, the early (New York) version of the album surfaced. Thia webpage shows some of these, almost at the bottom of the page.
http://www.searchingforagem.com/1970s/1974.htm
