Special thanks to Faro for his mysterious clues in this thread: Interesting Items Currently on eBay

faro wrote in Interesting Items Currently on eBay:
Not a 1st (Alpha, as described here) print and should also have been signed by Victor Frankenstein?

and

faro wrote in Interesting Items Currently on eBay:
The second NKG copy was at least sold with the correct box, however.

Special thanks also to Semper Invicta for pointing out in the same thread that the difference is the size of the sticker.

We can now see that this autographed Noble Knight woodgrain set box:
NOBLE KNIGHT GAMES - Where the Out-of-Print is Available Again

has the wrong sticker to be a 1st print box.  Its a 3rd print box.

We can also see that this autographed Noble Knight woodgrain set has the correct 1st print box:
NOBLE KNIGHT GAMES - Where the Out-of-Print is Available Again

As does this recently sold 1st print beta:

** expired/removed eBay auction **


Here is a side-by-side comparison (1st print box left, 3rd print box right):


A 1st print box has the woodgrain pattern running horizontally and a sticker measuring 7-11/16 inches tall x 5 inches wide
A 2nd print box has the woodgrain pattern running vertically
A 3rd print box has the woodgrain pattern running horizontally OR vertically and a sticker measuring 8-3/8 inches tall x 5-1/8 inches wide

Also, the picture on this site for the 1st print box appears to be wrong.  It shows a 3rd print box:
Box1st

Ah... someone's been rummaging through the archives! Good work.
The posts do go back ten years or so (on my old user ID back then...).

Cedgewick wrote in How to tell woodgrain boxes apart- and Acaeum pic is wrong:A 1st print box has the woodgrain pattern running horizontally and a sticker measuring 7-11/16 inches tall x 5 inches wide
A 2nd print box has the woodgrain pattern running vertically
A 3rd print box has the woodgrain pattern running horizontally OR vertically and a sticker measuring 8-3/8 inches tall x 5-1/8 inches wide

If you dig around in the old posts (and several dozen woodgrain sales) there are a small number of exceptions to the general trend - just as there are with the boxes for the 4ths & 5ths. In one exceptional case, 3rd print books were lobbed into a "would normally be" 1st print box which was still lying around the office... The reverse, however, requires either a time machine or exceptional circumstances such as a specific presentation that are well documented to justify the apparent frankenstein and IMHO just having (very late-looking) signatures from Dave and Gary isn't sufficient.

Cedgewick wrote in How to tell woodgrain boxes apart- and Acaeum pic is wrong:Also, the picture on this site for the 1st print box appears to be wrong.  It shows a 3rd print box:
Box1st

Bonus points for that.
It did take a couple of years back around 2004/5 by several parties to get things sorted out, more-or-less...

(Apologies; not really around during last week; catch-up PMs tomorrow, hopefully/maybe.... :/)

(Oh, and the bit about tight fit for boxes is even more fun for 1st Greyhawks excepting the sample(?) copy/ies)