Help IDing Empire-branded Pickering XVS/3000 stylus

[Rmass]

I have a Pickering XSV/3000 replacement stylus that is in commercial Empire packaging and labeled as 8153D. I can't find any details about it and have seen nothing like it on the typical auction sites. It is clearly a Pickering/Stanton stylus, stylus model D3000 listed on back of package. However, it does not have any markings (no circle with P/C) and the brush holder is matte black. My questions:
1) is it made by Empire or just in an Empire package?
2) could it be real OEM or is it a generic made by...any suggestions?
3) is it possibly stereohedron if not OEM?

I have not opened it to test with my XVS/3000, hoping I could learn something about it from the experts on AK.
Here are a couple pics if that helps:

Thanks for helping, Rob

 

[Gretsch6120]

You have one of Empire's late aftermarket offerings. The first giveaway is that there is no "Pc" on the front of the grip. They did offer genuine OEM styli in the same style packaging- only the plastic frame would have been black and would say "Original" instead of "replacement". The "D" suffix indicates that may have just a conical diamond- they used "DE" for elliptical and "HE" for modified ellipticals (Hyperelliptical, Line Contact, Shibata, Stereohedron, LAC, etc). See pic for an example

 

[Rmass]

Thanks Gretsch6120. That's what I suspected although hoping it would be better. Not sure if I should try it or drop it in the extras drawer...suppose I should test how it sounds. It came with a recently acquired XVS/3000 cartridge that has a OEM D4000 on it that is in excellent condition and sounds great, but can be quite revealing of imperfections. Maybe the Empire replacement stylus would be good for use on some of my older, less pristine vinyl...the conical more forgiving than the D4000?

Rob