Question on OG Jordan XIII flint greys: non-retail production number?

[quick kick me in the jonk]

I purchased these back in '98 from Shoetrends (if any OG heads in here remember that site!) and while everything about them appears to be legit from a fit / build / quality standpoint, I was surprised to find that the production number started with a "33" instead of a "98" which seemed a little strange:

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Also thought it was peculiar that the box did not have the "normal" silver size tag, but a more basic, non-stylized black one:

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Was digging in the stacks and ran across them, so figured I'd post up here to see if anybody had any ideas... did some searching and found another pair of OG XIII's on eBay with the same production prefix (link below), and seller claims that they may have been produced for non-retail channels (perhaps PEs?):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/OG-1998-NIK...-Shoes-Game-Used-Chicago-Bulls-/201055456354?

Any thoughts / ideas? Are these an early example of high-quality fakes, or potentially something else more interesting? Appreciate any insight that folks could provide.

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[rapcoz2134]

3M test 'em?

Those seem super suspect with that box label and the production code that you mentioned (that's actually the manufacture date--my OG black/red pair says 980305--03/05/199.

 

[friscogza]

Quality seems to be on point, but I don't know too much about these production dates. I do remember the site but never purchased from them because I had my suspicions

 

[quick kick me in the jonk]

They passed the 3M test, good looks on the suggestion... think I might call Nike to see if they can validate the production number.