Most of the newer "red ones" we see today are actually the background of the eagle is red, this has been since the advent of the anniversary models in 1999, those first 1999 standard autos had the red background on the grip medallion as well as the medallion on the bottom of the grips, so we always call these anniversary medallions, then in 2005 or so they started to put black eagle medallions on the new guns , and the ones you order from the Ruger shop can have these, throw back to the old models of the mid 50s and up till the New models of 1973............
I saw a pair last week that looked like ivory ( faux) and had the red background medallions for the SR1911, and they looked GOOD....... 8) :roll: :wink: