Lens date code problem

I have searched & Googled all morning & it's driving me crazy that I can't find the answer! I bought my 6D/24-105mm kit in March 2014 & have the white box & paperwork, even the plastic wrappers that came with it, but all I see is an 8 digit serial number, on the lens & the box... Actually, on the box, there is a 21 in parentheses before the serial number but all info I searched & read, that number doesn't make sense! Arrrrrgh!!! Am I missing something? Somebody... Anybody.... It shouldn't be this hard to find the date your lens was manufactured , lol!

LisaBlue85 wrote in post #17177024
I have searched & Googled all morning & it's driving me crazy that I can't find the answer! I bought my 6D/24-105mm kit in March 2014 & have the white box & paperwork, even the plastic wrappers that came with it, but all I see is an 8 digit serial number, on the lens & the box... Actually, on the box, there is a 21 in parentheses before the serial number but all info I searched & read, that number doesn't make sense! Arrrrrgh!!! Am I missing something? Somebody... Anybody.... It shouldn't be this hard to find the date your lens was manufactured , lol!

What does the serial number on the lens start with?

carpenter wrote in post #17177053
What does the serial number on the lens start with?

05....

But it's only 8 numbers... On the outside of the white box it has this > (21)05******

So that should be May of 2013 right?

carpenter wrote in post #17177064
So that should be May of 2013 right?

Please tell me how you figured that out! Everything I read indicated a 10 digit code, so I should disregard that?

not to long ago canon put the date codes in the serial no's,i bet its in that 8 digit number,as i read this some where but not 100% positive though ! but it would explain why some lens have date codes and others do not.

LisaBlue85 wrote in post #17177073
Please tell me how you figured that out! Everything I read indicated a 10 digit code, so I should disregard that?

I just used this. http://www.eflens.com …anon_lens_date_​codes.html

I don't know if it only applies to 10 digit codes or not, but they use the same format for date on the 50 1.4 which is only 8 digits. It does seem to be a bit up in the air.

Thanks soooo much!!! I'm thinking about selling it to fund the 135mm & I know date codes are pretty important to some people. Ahhh! What a relief! It really WAS driving me nuts, lol! Thanks again for all the help!