I had posted a suggestion of the "evolution" of the Wilson PS85 earlier and was hoping someone would chime in, but since no one has.....
I'll start with what I know.
Thanks to an image I'm borrowing from joe sch at woodtennis.com.....that's where it begins:
I'll leave out buttcap code letters as that seems to lead to confusion and there is debate as to the accuracy of origin determination.
The Chicago PS85:
- original bright yellow and red pinstriping
- bumperless construction
- grip size sticker, recommended tension sticker "String at 65-70 lbs." and specification sticker "Weight/Oz. 11.6-12.3 Unstrung - Balanced 1.0-1.5 in. headlight" inside one side of the throat
- three separate raised throat grommets
- Fairway leather grip
- White butt cap with large red "W" - no registered trade mark symbol
- red primer seen at grommet drill holes and through scratches in the top black coat
- Buttcap code located below red "W"
- pinstriping and "Midsize" on both sides of throat
- Wilson Pro Staff nylon racket bag with strap, no grip venting
Transition to St. Vincent (early-mid):
- Addition of "St. Vincent W.I" sticker above red "W" of buttcap (these are easily lost)
- Recommended tension sticker lowered to "String at 55-65 lbs."
- transition from bumperless construction to addition of bumperguard
St. Vincent (mid-late):
- Stickers replaced in throat to decals that describe Wilson PWS on one side, recommended tension on the other (50-60 lbs.) and higher/lower tension recommendation for control/power
- black rectangular grip size sticker placed at the outside of the throat above the handle
- throat grommets are thinner
- these have either "Midsize" decal on both sides of throat or one side has "80% braided graphite/20% kevlar" decal
- addition of red registered trademark symbol at lower right of "W" on butt cap
- "Wilson Quality" hologram sticker at base of throat opposite grip size sticker. Serial number in bold black font
Transition to Taiwan (early):
- loss of red primer to grey primer
- Butt cap code location moves above red "W"
- all cap "TAIWAN" sticker placed below "W" on butt cap
- Fairway leather grip
Taiwan (later)
- pinstriping color darker in tint
- recommended tension decal now has recommendation for using Wilson syn gut
- "Wilson Quality" hologram sticker now has bar code and small dot-matrix print
- Fairway leather grip
- Racket bag looks similar to original, but has grid-venting for grip
Transition to China
- same as late Taiwanese, but has all cap "CHINA" sticker below "W" on butt cap (use of last stock I assume)
Chinese PS85 (early)
- New design with wider throat and one-piece throat grommet
- slightly different drill pattern as the old grommets no longer easily fit
- White primer
- "Italicized" Pro Staff logo
- larger "PWS" at sides of head
- brighter, wideer pinstriping
- Fairway leather and white butt cap
- Throat decal has specs and square with "6.0" swing index info
- Racket bag matches fonts on racket with "braided" image on face
Chinese (mid)
- use of "Pro Staff 6.0" in Garamond font at face of throat
- transition from use of Fairway leather to Wilson leather
- transition from white butt cap to black butt cap with red square and small white Wilson "W"
- Racket bag matches the fonts and graphics of frame
Chinese (late and last)
- transition to silver specification decal at insides of throat
- use of generic Wilson Pro Staff racket bag
It's late and that's what I remember being the major (and some minor) changes to the Wilson PS85 over the years.
I'm sure some corrections and/or additions are in order, please feel free to discuss.....