Ah the thrill of the hunt and kill. Lot more fun than looking at two
dimensional pictures on websites. What did the boxes and wrappers look
like? Did you mean the bottom of the box? Was it Chinese characters
interspersed with numerals? If so the last set of numerals which looks
more like stamped ink than typeface will indicate the year and month.
The Xiaguan Millenia tuocha box 2000 has something that looks like =00.
I guess you paid much less than the websites charged for this year.
The numbers you mentioned are also on mine. According to a recent post
the G imprint was used on First(Jia) grade 1995 and later. Another
grade called Special (Te) 2003 and later.

Jim

Nico wrote:
> Hi All,
> I stumbled upon some raw puer at the Shuang Hur supermarket in St. Paul
> on University. It's labeled as a Xia Guan first grade 100g tuo. I think
> it's the real deal, as it has the mark imprinted in the tea itself.
> Judging by the taste, I think it's quite young.
> For the puer experts: how do I ascertain the age of the tuo? There
> doesn't appear to be a number that would indicate the year. There are
> two different four digit numbers on the back of the box, the first is
> 9833.5 (suppose that's five), and below that is 9679.
> For those of you looking for this stuff in the TC, bewa Shuang Hur
> stocks both cooked and uncooked versions of this tuo. They are in mixed
> together, and I accidentally purchased a cooked one along with the
> uncooked, because the two packages are identical (as far as I can
> tell). Don't be afraid to open them up and take a peek. The folks there
> are very nice.
>
> Regards,
> Nico