When you say "black label" I think industrial black labels.
They're both dark gray IBM logos, both same label style on the back (ok, the font's different). And you're not guaranteed the thicker plate on an 88.
There are different adjectives. The oldest plastic oval labels have been called "black" "white" and "gray" depending ....
The industrials got 3-dimensional badges, didn't they, even when they were plastic ovals on the left? I have never had one.
I had an early-1989 with a heavy plate, and all the ones I have had earlier were heavy. I know that different plants switched over at very different times. The oldest few (1986 +/-) had the shiny yellow-gold plates, but I don't think they lost any weight when they switched to dull gray.
The plate might have gotten a little lighter at the end of the 1980s, but even the 1991s I had were pretty substantial. I would suspect that a 1992 would be lighter, that was well into the Lexmark era.
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Looking back to an earlier discussion, I would want the best raw materials for a project that I invest hours of my time into. To me, that is an upgrade and I want to max it out.
When someone uses the words "hack" and "anyway" it is as if they are considering the project to be a downgrade or a cheapening of the original item, rather than an improvement of it. Fine, they are entitled to their opinion.
So, if the modifier goes to sell the item, he looks at it as having been upgraded and deserving of a premium price, while an uninterested non-buyer might attempt to denigrate the work and consider the product to be "damaged goods" to be sold at a discount.
This is the reason that I get irritated at bystanders insulting work they see for sale, that they have no intention of bidding on, as if they want to punish the craftsman who has put considerable effort into his work.
I agree that if I decided to sell a "ghetto SSK" at some point in the future, it would be imperative that I identify it for exactly what it is, and I would assume that it would sell for considerably less than a "stock" specimen, but as long as there is transparency in the transaction, all is well.
