3969854 Block ID Question??

[Als 70 L78 Nova]

I was looking at buying a 1970 L78 Block. 3969854. It is a CE block and has no casting date but does have the two screws. Factory mistake I imagine. I was told that down by the starter that all Tonawanda assembled blocks were also stamped when the short block was put together. i.e. T099 or Tonawanda, September 9, 1969. Can anyone here enlighten me on this information as I have never heard of this before.
Thanks,
Al in Maine

[the427king]

Al, all CE blocks [including early "CE" blocks which were blank pads] had the tonowanda stamp by the starter. I have seen other 854s and also 291 and 391 heads especially , where there was a missing digit or missing digits in the date code,and sometimes in the casting # ,and in the case of 2 351s, NO casting dates . All G20 and I20 391s without a last digit are G206 or I206 with a missing 6 ..Someone at the foundry forgot to put the digit in ,thats why ive seen or had about 10 of them over the years. When you see one head or block like that, there are certain to be more, its not a one off thing but human error. Here is a pic of the I20 head with missing 6