These are the holy grail of 300b tubes, a matched and fully working pair of 1995 issue Western Electric 300B tubes. Bought from my dealer (Greg Drygala at G-Point Audio) after he was offered them by another customer as part of a trade. These are from the first batch of reissued originals made. The Western Electric factory closed in 1988 and then due to demand there was a limited run of additional issue 300Bs from the factory in 1995. These are those, indicated by the serial numbers commencing 95 and 97. I have been using these in my Lampizator Golden Gate DAC for the last eight months without issue. When I bought them from my dealer, he observed that they were original issue (not reissue), matched in terms of output but maybe half way through their useful life. In a DAC, where the load is minimal compared to say a power/integrated amplifier, their useful life would be indefinite. In an amp circuit I believe there is no real way of knowing but you should get many hours of enjoyment from these. My findings and experience of these tubes is that they are every bit as superlative as legend has it. I have compared them to high end 300B from KR and Psvane, both of which they comfortably best, and to the new, reissue WE300B tubes, against which they also offer a substantial improvement in richness of timbre, space, openness and musicality. Bass notes are darker and weightier and the sound stage considerably larger with the originals than compared to even the reissue WE300Bs. I am selling because I find that I actually now prefer the 242 in my DAC and the WE300B are simply too good to just have lying around. My plan is to acquire another set of KR Audio tubes for tube rolling fun and pocket the difference (or more likely spend it on mains cables!) The photographs show the two tubes installed and in use in my DAC - you can see they glow, albeit faintly. I can also create a video that shows them in use and playing if you like, to demonstrate they work. The images also show the serial numbers. I am happy to sell and ship worldwide; the fee for postage is the most I believe it will cost to ship globally and to insure against damage. This insurance is very important; I will NOT be accepting returns unless the item is damaged. You must pay the amount shown for international and UK postage and I will then refund any difference once we know where the tubes are going.