I definitely prefer the lighter gold colour. I actually got rid of all the second edition cups I had. They were collected to complete my collection, only to then not be happy with them and I ended up paying a premium for the 1st ed ones on ebay and getting rid of the 2nd ed ones while the price was high on them.
Regarding the numbers, I have no clue.
Unless one of us gets hold of a 2nd ed cup with a number lower than the print run of the 1st ed, I guess we'll never know. lol
The large trophy I won in a competition. It is labelled as "Special L" on the box. I have only seen 3 different "L" variants. Special, Leaf and Shell. Here's the pics I posted of the Special L cup when I got it with detail of the compo.
http://collectorsedition.org/forums/...343#post222343