Epic on Ebay Special Edition?

[Takeo Sonoi (tkotmk42)]

What is so special about the Epic on Ebay?  This guy is selling what looks like an Epic with flame maple top and asking a lot of money.
Can anyone tell me what's so special about it?
 
Also, how many so called Special Editions Alembic made?
I knew about the 20th and 25th anniv. model, but this is first I heard about special edition Epic.
 
To me, every single Alembic is a Special Edition.  
 
Mica, how's my bass coming?  Shooting pictures?  If you need more camere, please let me know.
 
TKO

[mica]

We made 2 runs of special edition Epics for Guitar Center back when they were selling our basses. Each year they order a block of instruments for their own anniversary models, and we got 2 of those jobs. This one is from their 1998 anniversary.
 
These are different from the stock Epics in that the truss rod cover and backplate are brass. Oval inlays are also not standard on the Epic. If you Supersize the photo, you can see it has a double pinstripe under the top. All 60 have the same specs.
 
The seller is mistaken that these were prototypes for the Epic, we were making them for years before this special model. These are not neck through basses, but rather the set-neck type. Electronics are standard Epic/Orion (I only count 4 knobs). I'm not sure what he means by the 18K plating and solid gold parts (there aren't any solid gold parts on these basses)... I'm pretty sure I remember these basses having polished brass hardware and gold plated Gotoh tuning keys.  
 
Your bass is currently in the assembly department, and Chip and Kris both confirm snapping photos for you. I'll let you know if we run out of film