Sony UX-Pro are usually considered one of the best tapes ever made and was the TOTL of Sony tapes. They feature a kind if tape guide that is ceramic in this modes (in UX-S, this guid is plastic). I checked calibration on this tape @15kHz and if was OK so, I think, the tape is good regardless it's age. Appearance is perfect for my taste. But there are some visible aging problems: the minor tape curvature and small convexes on the surface, at least at the beginning of tape. These symptos are usual for old type II tapes. Fore example, curvature is very pronounced on TDK SA-X tapes that are also TOTL of TDK, as I remember. So no reasin to blame this particular Sony tape, it's common feature and may not affect the sound. BTW, visually the best tape from TOTLs of various brands is Denon HD-8 (and it performs well).
The price is quite high, it's obvious that it's just because good tapes are now rare on the market.
I've always tended to use Type II as my mainstay, since the Type II's provide good value to performance. These Sony UX-Pro's are one of the best type II's you can get. I am pleased with the performance I am getting from these - good treble, midrange and bass balance. Though sealed, there were cosmetic damages (cases had cracks or a corner scratch on one), but these don't seem to affect the performance, and the cassettes themselves were unharmed. Still, these cases look better than many of the ones I have from 20 to almost 40 years ago.