Thanks Bruce, I noticed that the mower's reel appears never to have been resharpened, and the paint looks both original and in excellent condition, which all fits for it being a very late-production example. I've never seen a Briggs without a Briggs sticker on it before, and usually a model number/model name as well. jackg, if you give us the full string of cowl plate numbers (model, type and code) everything should become clear, and as long as it is a US-made Briggs, there should be no problem with sorting out the problem, whatever it is.
