My "new" square badge Model M with unusual sticker inside

[feltel]

I got a square badge Model M recently, so my little Model M collection is nearly complete now. Unfortunately its outer birth certificate is missing. Apart from that it is in good visual condition. I took it apart and found a lot of popped rivets, not that I didn't expected it. I think I'll have to do an bolt-mod to make it lasting the next decades. The bottom row has a noticable different typing sound than other rows. It is where most of the rivets are gone. The keyboard has a nice rainbow colored back plate which is kind of unusual here in europe. All my other Ms have a matte back plate. What caught my attention was an unusual sticker on its back. I never have seen such a sticker inside an M. Are they common?

outside condition

IMG_20201205_124522.jpg (544.16 KiB) Viewed 1897 times

back plate

IMG_20201205_125207.jpg (396.6 KiB) Viewed 1897 times

sticker

IMG_20201205_124952.jpg (359.65 KiB) Viewed 1897 times

A litte question related to the missing birth certificate: Are there replica labels available anywhere?

[hellothere]

Couple other examples at https://ibm-pc.webnode.sk/en/collection/keyboards. I find it interesting that the posts there refer to this as an "IBM Model M XT/AT" and, while they have the QWERTZ layout, they have a different sticker for the lock lights.

The thing I initially thought was that this was a new drop-in "core," i.e. new everything but the case. If you look at the bottom-most Model M on the website I linked to, it looks like it has a sticker on the case and two stickers on the shiny back plate.

Mind you, I've worked on 10 or fewer Model Ms.

[Weezer]

I have one of those with the sticker as well. Qwertz German with weird aftermarket keys. Lock lights have the German overlay. The blue "G" sticker seems newer than the original IBM sticker to me in all these examples.

[Rayndalf]

I have one of those with the sticker as well. Qwertz German with weird aftermarket keys. Lock lights have the German overlay. The blue "G" sticker seems newer than the original IBM sticker to me in all these examples.

If it started life as an ANSI board and a company imported/modified them then the lack of a rear label could be intentional.

Did yours have a rear sticker?

[feltel]

@Rayndalf: No, mine does not have a rear sticker. I thought it could be fallen of through its lifetime. Keycaps seem original. But when they converted the keyboards from ANSI to ISO how did they manage to keep the rivets intact? They had to do some sort of bolt-mod if they removed the rivets alltogether. Some of the rivets are under the inner sticker, which seems to be untouched in my case.

[fohat]

But when they converted the keyboards from ANSI to ISO how did they manage to keep the rivets intact?

They didn't. You can't convert from ANSI to ISO without separating the internal layers.

[Weezer]

Mine still has its label. It's from the UK and the part number (1390133) is for a German ISO board. It's one of those labels that was known to fall off, and mine is starting to fall off a little as well. I don't think these keyboards were converted from ANSI to ISO given that you'd need to have access to plastic molds with rivets that weren't melted yet, and for IBM, the only entity that had that access, it would be easier to just pull a Model M off the production line than spend time fiddling around with cast off ANSI keyboards. My theory is that the G on the blue sticker stands for Greenock or some sort of refurbishment vendor and that the keyboards were refurbished under warranty. But that's just my best guess.

[Fkazim]

I have an IBM Model M silver badge with that blue sticker on the backplate. I believe mine is a part no. 1390136 but don't know for sure as it is missing it's rear label.

It's UK layout with lock lights and the shiny rainbow back plate.

I think the keyboard originally had its label but lost it over the years as it also has a seperate computer resellers label on it next to where the original label would have gone.