Could this actually be the date code?

[Robert Grant]

For the first time, I've actually re-tubed a whole TV set, my Zenith C2004/14B38, in part because I was able to get the tubes very cheap (except the 13Z10 and 19VALP4, I'll stick with the old ones).

To my surprise, when I opened the cartons of the three identical 4BZ6 tubes, I saw the code "92-12" on the tubes. I know in the past, that this would be "year-week" on many tubes, as well as other products, but why in the world would anyone be making new 4BZ6 tubes in 1992?

(FWIW, re-tubing made the picture a little brighter and wider, but the problems I had been hoping to fix, intercarrier video buzz and horizontal foldover on the left, are little changed )

[electroking]

What did the boxes look like? I would be suprized if anyone anywhere was still
making tubes for series string TVs in the early nineties, but who knows?

[Robert Grant]

The usual Westinghouse tube boxes, as they were in the 1970's, simple solid color (between lavender and indigo) with "Westinghouse" and "Electronic Tube", the boxes are clean enough to eat off of.