I noticed that one of the 3rd printing brown boxes recently auctioned had the label on the right hand side of the box versus another recently auctioned 3rd printing had it on the left hand side, which is consistent with the location on the white box printings.  Does it mean anything if the label is affixed to the right hand side versus the left hand side? What about on a first printing?

sauromatian wrote in OD&D Label Question:
1) Was it posted on the Acaeum? Where?       

2) It means it would have to fit backward on a bookshelf to display the side label.     

3) If you can afford a first printing, you could also afford to have everything else on the bookshelf custom printed with backwards binding to match your first printing with a backwards label.

1) The third printing was posted by smarmy1 in Interesting Items thread on Feb 28th.  Sold for $7,600.00.
2) It sits facing forward in a glass box so you can see both sides, including the right hand side label.
3) Lol. Like my car and my house, I got it long ago when things were still "affordable."

stratochamp wrote in OD&D Label Question:Amongst my brown boxes three have the label on the left side, eight have the label on the right side and four have no label at all. So I would suggest it was somewhat random where they ended up.

This point is worth remembering. That in the early homespun, handmade days of D&D (and other early games, such as T&T, Runequest, C&S) there was little care for the kind of consistency of detail which collectors can worry about now. See also: slight variations in paper stock, booklet or box size, staple locations etc.. In the rare book collecting world such distinctions are noted but also set in context.