Well spotted Mike.

So the questions begin:

Does it have a BR stamp? Or a BZ stamp perhaps? The stamps are near the tone control knob (is there one?). Little letters stamped into the shell. Mine (2002) has no tone control and a BR stamp under the throw off. According to Rob Cook (The Ludwig Drum Book p140) if that's really a 1990 drum it is probably a BZ (bronze) shell rather than brass. Are there other reasons you identify it as 1990, or did that come from the person you got it from?

The "103" in ink I've seen before. Perhaps a date stamp, but the decoding of them isn't clear. I've seen people interpret them as

mmy (Oct 2003)

myy (Jan 2003)

ymm (Mar 2001)

but no single interpretation fits all the variations I've seen.

I haven't seen a Rocker B/W badge on a Black Beauty before, but I've learned to never say never with Ludwig. It is also intriguing that they would need a cut badge. That means the hole for the badge was drilled low, doesn't it? The same sort of thing happened with some early B/O badges where the hole had been drilled for the smaller keystone badge and the B/O badge had to be trimmed to fit. But that sort of thing is early 1970s not early 1990.

And to add to the mystery, that particular Rocker badge has the vertical USA on the right. No years are given in the reference

http://www.vintagedrumguide.com/ludwig_badges.html

but the next badge says "1984 through the 90s". So does that mean your badge is a 1983 or earlier Rocker badge? On a reputed 1990 drum?

"Curiouser and curiouser", said Alice.