Original Prince?

[retrowagen]

On my travels yesterday, I found and purchased what I believe could be a very, very early Prince racquet. It looks like a Classic 110, but has four holes in the green nylon throatpiece, instead of the three holes of the newer versions of Classic and Classic 2. In fact, there is no model name stickers or moldings on the frame whatsoever, nothing identifying "Classic" – only a small sticker inset in the extruded aluminum channel slot of the frame, denoting the grip size of 4-5/8” (and not the typical 1980’s Prince long rectangular grip size sticker listing all the patent numbers and places). Adjacent to the small sticker in the tube stock indent, there is a neatly hand-engraved serial number, 921. The butt cap is a generic-looking black one, with round inset for a sticker, but no other identifying marks (no sticker on this specimen, either). Grip is what looks to be the original leather one. The nylon throatpiece also seems to be held in place by two small Phillips-headed screws (one on each side), and the green plastic grommet going around the head has little nubs molded in it around its outer periphery, near the string holes. FWIW, it’s strung with some really old natural gut. And apart from being dusty and dirty, it’s in pretty good condition for a racquet that could potentially be 37 years old (1976?).

Could this be the 921st Prince frame ever built, part of the original batch of Prince racquets (before the Pro, Graphite, and Woodie were introduced, necessitating the “Classic” name for the basic silver and green aluminum model)?