Back to my original comment, hole location is a better test than no grommets. Without holding that sign in my hands, the attached photo showing the uneven hole locations would make me question if it is original. If I had to make a call using just the photos in your original post, I would say you did the right things if owning a repop was a problem for you.
NEWS FLASH: Odds are, unless you gave it a life long mark indicating it was a repop, it got flipped as original after you gave it away at what you call repop prices. As Paul Harvey would have said "Now, for the rest of the story".
