deskthority

I got this Model M from an IBM employee not too long ago. When disassembling it to clean and bolt mod it, I saw that it has "Sample" handwritten on it. Is this normal?

Hmmm. It is unusual for a black barrel plate to have white space bar stabilizers, at least in my experience. If the 3/1/88 is a manufacturing date then it isn't particularly old. Do you have any other pics? The back label would be helpful.

Oh yes, I forgot. Here is the back label:

Thats weird, I thought 1401s were usually US built

I have the same board - 1391401 made in UK, and as a matter of fact, also from 1988. It's very nice keyboard indeed. Surprisingly hasn't lost any of the rivets yet, even though I got it second hand, and judging by condition of case it had very hard life. Not that it's much better at my home where it was used by me as a daily driver for almost 2 years and then it's used with my IBM PS/2 retro PC for playing older games by my family.

It's worth noting that it has wire stabilizers on number pad vertical keys unlike some newer boards.

It is one of my favourite keyboards of all time though. Pretty quiet and light for a Buckling Spring keyboard, especially compared to a new Unicomp, but also other old Ms I have (Polish layout made in UK, and couple terminals I keep for spare parts).

I have two 1391401s made in UK too, Built in 89 and 90, both with PBT space bars.
The 1396790 is from 95, has a blue IBM logo and a grounded ABS space bar (sounds different)