The rather silly and disingenuous practice of "relicing" new guitars to resemble old ones has become common ever since old Fenders, Gibsons, etc. became much more valuable than new ones. This sort of forgery has been quite rare in vintage audio until recently, limited mostly to faking old JBL bubbleback 375 compression drivers and 150-4C woofers using more modern parts. Now that more humdrum vintage pieces are starting to fetch big money the forgers are moving further into the market.
I would invite you to check out this current ebay auction:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/151139589477
This purports to be a pair of very early Altec 604s with black and white labels in period 612 utility cabinets, but I smell a very large rat. What follows is all just my opinion you understand, but based on fifteen plus years of studying this old gear obsessively.
The first 100 or so of the Altec 604 Duplex drivers, released in late 1944 or early 1945, used the black and white decal of the early 1940s Altec products. Here is a photo of a decal of what I believe to be a genuine early 604:
604#73-3.jpg
I hope the link works, though I'm lousy at computer stuff. A friend of mine owns three authentic pre-100 serial number 604s, so he and I have some idea of what is correct. I believe the auction pair of 604s to be run of the mill later 604s or 604Bs which the seller has attempted to present as ultra-rare early serial number specimens with faked black and white labels and cabinet badges. As far as we know, only the first 100 or so 604s used the black and white decal before the red, white and blue decals replaced them. These serial numbers of 170 and 182 conflict with our understanding. Note that the original label says "IMPED" for impedance, while the auction labels say "MPED"... Dohhh! Also the original decal has a black outer border, while the auction pair has a ragged white border.
The cabinets look like early 612 specimens that have been through WWII and Katrina. They may be old ones, or made last week, I dunno. The oxblood color "Lansing Sound Systems" labels were used on a few of the last Lansing Iconics built in 1941 or 1942, but are completely wrong for a 1944 or 1945 604-based system. I believe these badges to be new reproductions, carefully aged to appear beat up and seventy years old. Likewise the brass labels on the rear of the cabinets, which appear to be photographically derived from early Altec black and white decals, scream TILT! Never have I seen an old system with such a badge, nor any brass badge at all with an "Altec Lansing" ID. It seems that one of the first efforts of the new Altec Lansing Corp. was to reduce costs by replacing the beautiful Lansing brass, nickel plated and paint-filled badges with cheap decals.
Normally I wouldn't get bent out of shape about this stuff, but this seller IMO is attempting to hoodwink some unknowing (likely overseas) buyer into forking over FIFTEEN BIG ONES for a pair of moldy old 604s in utility cabinets. Also, the founders of this site have been attempting to accurately portray the history of Jim Lansing's contributions to the art with this site since the year 2000, and such phony, never-existed abortions like this just muddle the historical record for future interested parties.
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Originally Posted by script56
"James B. Lansing" = Lansing Manufacturing ~ Altec Lansing ~ JBL 
