How old is this Ilford paper?

I know that Ilford resets the counter when it hits 99 and i believe this paper is from before the fall 2004 counter reset? Would this paper be from apx 2002? Any chance it would still be good since it wasnt stored correctly and sat in a basement its entire life? I know how to test the paper but i dont want to go by the sellers house and asked him if i can take samples home with me to test.

It very well may be good. I have a pack of MultiGrade (no number). I was expecting it to be bad, but it's actually very nice. I estimate it's from the mid eighties.

If you do a search here you'll find the link to the Ilford code which as you say is repeated at intervals.

Ilford's longevity is good and unless it has been stored really badly then it may be OK.

If you are buying this stuff and live close to the seller then I see no reason why you can't ask the seller to let you have a box which you can test at home to determine if there are any problems. No problems = a sale and problems = either no sale or a price reduction if it age-fogged but you can still use it with benzo

pentaxuser

Test it, but my offhand guess is that it will be good. I bought a collection of darkroom stuff that included a box of paper; the whole lot had been stored in a semi trailer next to a barn on a farm, and had been stored like that for a few years.
The paper was fine.

Simon R. Galley from Harman can answer your question.

If it is labelled as a product of Harman it is no older than 2005.

If it is labelled as a product of Ilford Imaging, it is at least as old as 2005.

If you're sure it's before 2004, then it's been manufactured in July 2003 / September 2003 otherwise the paper is from July / Sept 2011.

Yup around September 2003...

My experience with older Galerie is that it lost a bit in contrast but looked good in a fog test. Still printed very well with the right contrast negative.