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The Label from the Wrong Era (illustration)
FILE No.144Unsolved

The Label from the Wrong Era

Difficulty ★★☆about 5 minTheft CaseAnachronismsLabels
A wine of "vintage 1990." The winery says the label is as bottled, but the label has a QR code.

Case Record

A wine traded as a premium "vintage 1990." The winery says, "The label was put on at bottling in 1990 and has never been replaced."

But the label has a QR code printed on it. The QR code was invented in 1994. The QR code's ink is part of the same printing as the rest of the label's text, and there was no sign of it having been added later.

Your question

What can be said for certain about this label?

Case Files

Diagram

The wine label and the QR code19901994Winery: label appliedQR code inventedThe label carries a printed QR code, in the same print as the other text; itdoes not look added later.Winery: "The label has never been replaced since 1990."
Diagram

Hints

If you get stuck, open the hints one at a time, in order.

Open hint 1

When was the QR code invented?

Open hint 2

Was the QR code added later?

Open hint 3

The label was printed no earlier than when?

Solve It

Your question

What can be said for certain about this label?

Choose the answer closest to the truth.

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The Truth

It is not a label printed in 1990

The answer is "It is not a label printed in 1990."

The QR code was invented in 1994. It could not be on a label printed in 1990. It is part of the same printing as the label's text, with no sign of being added later, so the whole label was made in 1994 or later. This conflicts with the winery's claim that it "has not been replaced."

Whether the contents are fake cannot be known from the label.

When the label was made19901994No QR code yetThe QR code eraA 1990 label cannot carry a QR code. The whole label was printed in1994 or later.Whether the wine itself is fake cannot be told from this.
Diagram of the solution

Key Points

  • Use the year something was invented as a clue
  • Check whether it was "added later"
  • Think of the label and the contents separately

Why people get fooled

Because when the wine's year says "1990," you assume the label is from 1990 too.

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