answer:They aren’t held together by rubber bands anymore. No matter how well they’ve been kept those rubber bands are probably dry as hell and a little brittle. They are originals. My brother-in-law kept his stored safely, too, and gave them to his son when he went to Iran. Zane was 4, and they were his favorite toys while his daddy was deployed. Not so new anymore :-) —oh, wait. You said the tiny ones. Still originals. Date stamps are not retro’ed unless they’re forged.