definately a Bates. The stickers on the bottom (12B, 11B, etc) were codes the Bates factory in Long Beach used so that the pans and the covers could be matched up in the assembly process. All the cardboard for the pads was cut in a couple of different sizes and stickers laid on to make sure the vinyl or leather would be going on the correct pan or cardboard for the pads since they were different sizes. Often times they would be stamped with an inspection sticker, like "insp8" Inspector number eight. If you compare the vinyl of the older seats to the vinyl they have today in most cases the stuff today will not be as bright as it was thirty years ago. Probably different vinyl making process involved. I bought about 50 Bates pans and a few covers from a guy who worked at Bates in the late sixties and early seventies and took a bunch of stuff when he left (maybe got fired he did not say EXACTLY how he got the 50 pans and odd covers). But he explained to me that the seat pans came in three sizes, small medium and large. The larger ones were being phased out by the late sixtie as the trend went toward the smaller chopper seats and away from the bigger seats of the 1950s. The mediums and smalls could easily be confused on the assembly line, costing time and of course money. he said that not all seats left the factory with the Bates sticker based on customer requests, but many retained the inspection stamp and the inventory sticker.
You can also tell by the pan, it has a different shape than anything else and if it hard to find two that match exactly. They were stamped out of metal then beaten on a little to get just the right shape for the leather. The later seats that were made by Dixie in Italy and then in China. The italian ones were made from Bates original pans when Bates went out of business. Old Harry Denune of Dixie Superior had them made in Italy when Bates went out of business. When the Italian ones were no longer available, then the Chinese started making them for Dixie from the italian pans, and the pans got further aways from the Bates pan. Sort of a copy of a copy of a copy, becomming of less quality as it went along. Now the Chinese don't make them any more and they are made in India, still by Harry Denune of Dixie Superior. The pans are of even worse quality as they are a cheaper copy of a copy of a copy of the original Bates seat.
BAR Enterprises makes a bunch of solo seats too, but they are made in Mexico and are far less of a force on the market.
