I believe the theory of pre-release numbers after auto-ship is correct as I was able to randomly pick up the Portsmouth Harbor on Saturday at a local store that participates in the auto-ship program in which I was able to acquire a #274.

After reading this thread and hearing all numbers in the 3000's range for the pre-releases, I was quite amazed to see a #274 until I realized that all the 2000 and 2001 pieces that they had on the shelves all had the same number (#274)!

It was an interesting Saturday evening....lets just say, that made my collection grow larger.

That's my two cents...
Christopher