|
PART
1: 1952 TO 1956
The middle era began with a five-year period
of black on silver aluminum plates with year
tabs. There was a somewhat confusing sequence of base plates and tabs.
These plates and tabs were made of aluminum rather than steel, with an
unpainted or grey-silver painted background, with black embossed serials.
There are some uncertainties in what is stated here and
elsewhere, especially in regard to non-passenger plates.
1952: All types of vehicles were issued with a
1952 base plate, replacing the 1951 type.
Commercial half-year plates were accompanied by a 1952
strip to be affixed along the bottom of the base 1952
plate..
1953 Renewals: For all plate types, any vehicles
continuing on from received a 1953 strip or tab to be
mounted across the bottom of the 1952 plate.
1953: New registrations
(passenger, commercial, motorcycle): Issued with 1953
base plates, identical to the 1952 type except for the
embossed 53 and the difference in serial. Despite
being 1953 dated plates they were accompanied by the
same 1953 strips as was received by the continuing
registrations. Thus there was no such thing as a
legal bare 1953 plate. Without removing the strip
the only indication that the plate itself is a 1953 is
the difference in numbers, as described below.
These 1953 plates were issued only in 1953 or perhaps
also in 1954 until stock was depleted.
IT IS NOT CERTAIN WHETHER OR NOT OTHER TYPES OF PLATES
WERE EVER MANUFACTURED WITH THE 1953 DATE.
1954 to
1956 Renewals: Registrants received the strip for
the appropriate year, which was affixed on the already
used plate, which could be a 1952 or a 1953.
1954 to
1956 New registrations: Registrants were issued
with 1952 plates and the appropriate year strip, except
as noted above there could have been some 1953 plates
issued in 1954.
|
1952 to 1956 Series
Other than registered
weight plates, all plate types in 1952 to 1956 consisted of a black
on aluminum base plate, bare in 1952, modified with a validation
strip in the later years, except that in 1952 half-year commercial
registrations DID have a validation strip, as described below.
For most plate types
there was one series of 1952 plates that began with a low serial in
1952 and progressed to the highest serials issued near the end of
1956. The low ends are known or well-guessed but the high ends
of the series are mere guesswork, and with no knowledge of serial
ranges within individual years.
For passenger, commercial
and motorcycle plates there are three distinct ranges:
Plates dated 1952, issued in 1952. Plates dated 1952,
issued in1953. Plates dated 1952, issued 1954 to 1956.
|
Year(s) |
Passenger and
Commercial Plates |
Validation Strips |
|
1952 |
1952 base plate as it would appear on a vehicle in 1952
Passenger plates were issued during 1952 in serials
ranging
from 2-00-00 (or 2-00-01) to a maximum of less than
10-00-00.
This was the last plate issue to follow the county group
system of initial digit that had begun in 1930.
1952 issue commercial
plate, in the range C10-00 to C3-99-99.
If this was a standard commercial registration it would
be displayed bare, with no strip. If it was a half-year
registration, it would be displayed with the strip shown
at the right. |
The validation strips were
constructed of aluminum, with tabs at each end to bend around the
base plate. These strips and the tabs were soft and
subject to bending and breaking. The tabs are shown in
the 1954 strip illustration below.
Each strip had a serial
number and therefore there is a correct pairing of strip with a
particular base plate. Unfortunately there are no known
records of these correct pairings. Therefore, collectors,
including myself, pair strips to plates for display purposes without
any regard for accuracy. Compounding this issue is the fact
that the strips were identical for all full-size plate types.
This means that I, for example, may have inadvertently paired a
strip that had been on a farm plate with a commercial base plate.
Unfortunately there is no known way to differentiate and therefore
collectors necessarily disregard this possible or probable
discrepancy.
Nomenclature note: I
refer to whole validation piece that covers the lower part of the
plate as a "strip", and the two protrusions at the end that wrap
around the edges of the plate as the "tabs" I realize
that some collectors refer to the whole thing as a tab.
In 1952 all plates except
half-year commercial registrations were mounted bare, i.e with no
validation strip. Any of these initially bare registrations
that carried on into 1953 and beyond to 1956 would then each year be
modified with the validation strip for that year.
REGULAR STRIPS
(No 1952 regular
strips, as plates
were bare 1952 base plates.)
Plate and strip combinations:
1952 plates issued in 1952 may
appear bare, or with any of the strips.
Plates dated 1953,
issued in 1953, cannot appear bare
or with any of the
strips.
1952 dated plates issued in 1954 cannot appear bare or with the
1953 strip. This is where it gets confusing. Because we
do not know the ranges of serials issued within each of 1954, 1955
and 1956, it is impossible to know for certain which serials can go
with which year strips. About all that is somewhat clear is
that very high serials, presumably issued in 1956 cannot appear bare
or with any strip other than the 1956 one.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
HALF-YEAR STRIPS
Thought to mountable on Commercial base plates only.
Similar
to X (later CX) plates issued before and after the
1952-56 era, these were affixed to the base Commercial
plate
for the first half of the year, at which point valid
registration ended.
It was
possible for a company to change its mind and continue
registration into the second half of the year.
1n 1952, if validation was continued, the half-year strip would be removed
and the plate would continue on bare.
in the subsequent years such a continuation would entail
removing the half-year strip, to be replaced by a
regular strip.
This 1952 strip is not in the best of shape, and I am
interested in upgrading!
The 1954 strip
above belongs to a fellow collector. I am very
interested
in acquiring one to complete my run.
SMALL SIZE STRIPS
This variant was used
on small format plates, i.e. Motorcycle and Public
Vehicle
At
present I have only this one example:
Note the bare
section containing the serial number.
|
|
1953 |
For 1953 the authorities issued
revalidated continuing registrations with validation strips.
1952 passenger plate revalidated for 1953
New passenger, commercial and
motorcycle registrations received 1953 plates, identical to
the 1952 series other than the embossed year and range of numbers.
No other plate types have been seen with this 1953 variety.
1953 dated plates are very much more scarce than 1952 dated plates.
It is unclear whether the issuance
of 1953-dated plates coincided exactly with the actual year.
Information sources vary, with two possibilities stated: The
first of these is that the stock of 1953 plates did not last the
whole year and therefore some of the next issue (see below) may have
been issued in 1953. The other possibility is that the stock
Of 1953-dated plates lasted into 1954 and therefore some issues in
1954 were of the 1953-dated plates.
1953 base plate issued for new registrations only. This plate
would carry the 1953 strip just as the re-registrations did,
and therefore the embossed 53 would not be seen. The only
outwardly-noticeable way to know that a passenger plate was
a 1953 base was the "10" prefix. With this first use
of six digits, the
old county groupings of first digit was abandoned.
1953 Commercial Plate. These are quite scarce in the
collecting world.
|
|
1954 |
For 1954 and beyond, the authorities
confused things with what might be characterized as a
bizarre move. They reverted to issuing 1952-dated
plates. These plates were identical to the
original 1952 plates, other than having higher serial
numbers.
This is subject to the possibility
that some 1953-dated plates were issued in early 1954,
A 1952 issue plate revalidated for 1954
This plate would previously been bare in 1952 and carried
a 1953 strip in1953.
A 1953 issue plate revalidated for 1954. This plate
would have carried a 1953 strip in 1953.
|
1955
&
1956 |
All comments for 1954 apply to 1955
and 1956. The reintroduced 1952 type plates
continued to be issued, but there are no known records
of the ranges of serial numbers for the individual three
years 1954 to 1956. There can be educated
guesswork, so that a very low number, just above the
1953 range, is going to be a 1954 issue, and a very high
number is going to be a 1956 issue.
The highest known passenger plates commence with
16-50-38, and with strong evidence that 17 was not
reached. The highest known commercial plate is my own
commence with C6. It may be safe to conclude
that the 16's and C6's were issued in 1956. Other than
that it is currently impossible to match serials with
year of issue.
This is probably a 1955-issue plate. It has been
paired
here with a 1955 strip, but most likely it would have
gone
on to be paired with the 1956 strip.
This passenger plate bears a very high number and
therefore
was likely issued in 1956 or in late 1955. The
highest serial seen
so far by me for this series is 16-50-38 (in a Nova
Scotia collection).
At the risk
of stating the obvious, this plate could not have been
mounted bare, nor with the 1953 or 1954 validation
strips,
and possibly not the 1955 either.
This plate is almost assuredly a late 1956 issue, if in
fact it
was issued. If mounted on a vehicle it would have
had the
1956 strip attached. In most plates of the overall
series there
is a difference in colour where the strips had been
attached. This plate does not exhibit any of that,
so it either
had the strip for a very short period of time, or as an
unissued plate, was never covered.
|
|
1952 to 1956 OTHER PLATE TYPES
In addition to passenger and commercial plates the following types were issued.
Other than the special Registered Weight plates these were
consistently Black on Aluminum, and with the exception of the
Motorcycle types apparently bore the 1952 embossed year, as no
1953-embossed variants have been discovered.
Dealer [D prefix]
Tractor [T prefix]
Registered Weight [separate plates
each year]
Dealer Salesman [S prefix]
Orchard Sprayer [F prefix,
with legend "SPRAYER] [Last years of issue]
Farm Tractor Class II [FX prefix]
Small format plates:
Public Vehicle
Motorcycle
New This Year:
Motorcycle Dealer
Below are plates in my
collection:
1952 Trailer
Plate, first type with small T
1952 Trailer Plate, second type with T size
matching the serial number
This trailer plate is in poor condition but is one of
the last issued,
probably in 1955 or 1956, as the highest known of the
series is
in the area of 1-09-nn
|
PART 2: 1957 to 1971
1957, 1958
and 1959 saw the return to single year plates, and,
commencing with the 1958 plate, with a
consistent colour pair of yellow and black . Beginning in 1960, passenger
plates began to be issued for 2 to 3 year periods, first
with window stickers, then by on-plate stickers.
|
|
YEAR |
PASSENGER, COMMERCIAL,
COMMERCIAL HALF-YEAR |
OTHER TYPES |
1957
Black on White
|
NEEDED: COMMERCIAL HALF
YEAR (X PREFIX),
WHITE ON BLACK
|
OTHER TYPES ISSUED IN 1957 AND STILL REQUIRED
FOR MY COLLECTION
Dealer [D prefix]
Tractor [T prefix]
Registered Weight
Dealer Salesman [S
prefix]
Orchard Sprayer [F prefix, with legend "SPRAYER]
Farm
Tractor Class II [FX prefix]
Public Vehicle
[last year]
New This Year: Farm Truck
[White on Dark Green]
Motorcycle
Motorcycle Dealer
|
1958
Light Yellow on Black
|
|
OTHER TYPES ISSUED IN 1958 AND STILL REQUIRED
FOR MY COLLECTION
Dealer [D prefix]
Trailer [T suffix]
Tractor [T prefix]
Registered Weight
Dealer Salesman [S
prefix]
Farm Tractor Class II
[FX prefix]
Farm Truck
Motorcycle
Motorcycle Dealer
|
1959
Black on Light Yellow |
HALF YEAR PLATES (Last year for X prefix):
|
1959
was the last year for T suffix for trailers.
1959 was the last year for T prefix tractor plates.
Replaced in
1960 by GT plates
OTHER TYPES ISSUED IN 1959 AND STILL REQUIRED
FOR MY COLLECTION
Dealer [D prefix]
Dealer Salesman [S prefix]
Farm Tractor Class II [FX prefix]
Farm Truck
[Last Year of Issue]
New This Year: Amateur
Radio
Motorcycle
Motorcycle Dealer
|
Commencing in 1960, Passenger plates
began to be used for more than one year, but with
stickers instead of metal tabs. The
1960 plate was used for 1961, the 1962 plate for 1963, and the 1964 plate was also for 1965.
The 1966 plate was used also in 1967 and 1968, and
finally in this era, the 1969 plate was used also in
1970 and 1971. The 1969 plate was the first
one with a designed spot for an on-plate sticker.
Non-passenger plates continued to be issued annually
throughout this period until 1970,
when stickers were issued for non-passenger plates for the first time.
|
1960
Pale Yellow on
Black |
Note that plates have been seen with the colours reversed. They
appear to be "official-grade" in font, colour and construction.
It is not known if these are fake, official concept plates, or
manufacturer imangineering. The serials are higher than any
known actual issues which, as far as is known do not exceed 19 99
99. See also 1964.
HALF YEAR PLATES (First year for CX prefix):
This plate is in poor condition. and an upgrade is
wanted!
|
This is my only Dealer Salesman plate. This plate
was issued
to Baker Motors in Yarmouth, NS (papers attached to
back)
1960
was the first year for T prefix
Trailer plates (Changed from Suffix)
OTHER TYPES
ISSUED IN 1960 AND STILL REQUIRED
FOR MY COLLECTION
Dealer [D prefix]
New This Year: General Tractor [GT prefix]
Farm Tractor Class II [FX prefix]
New This Year:
Farm & Fisherman [FM prefiz]
Amateur Radio
New This Year: Heavy
Trailer [TX prefix]
Motorcycle
Motorcycle Dealer
|
1961
Black on Pale Yellow
|
For
passenger cars in 1961, a black on red window sticker was issued to go with
the 1960 plate. I DO NOT own this sticker.
It is an image
of a sticker found in a display in the Halifax area.
1961 CX PLATE WANTED (RED ON YELLOW) |
OTHER TYPES
ISSUED IN 1961 and required for my collection
Dealer [D prefix]
Trailer [T prefix]
General Tractor [GT prefix]
Dealer
Salesman [S prefix]
Amateur Radio
Heavy Trailer [TX
prefix]
Motorcycle
Motorcycle Dealer
1961 GT PLATE
WANTED
|
1962
Black on Pale Yellow |
 |
OTHER TYPES ISSUED
IN 1962 and required for my collection:
Dealer [D prefix]
General Tractor [GT prefix]
Farm Tractor [F prefix]
Dealer
Salesman [S prefix]
Farm Tractor Class II
[FX prefix]
Farm &
Fisherman [FM prefiz]
Amateur Radio
Heavy Trailer [TX
prefix]
Motorcycle
Motorcycle Dealer
|
1963
|
For
passenger cars in 1963, a black on yellow window sticker was issued to go with
the 1962 plate. I DO NOT own this
sticker. It is an image
of a sticker found in a display in the Halifax area.
|
OTHER TYPES ISSUED IN 1963
and still required for my collection:
Dealer [D prefix]
Trailer [T prefix]
General Tractor [GT prefix]
Dealer Salesman [S prefix]
Farm
Tractor Class II [FX prefix]
Amateur Radio
Heavy
Trailer [TX prefix]
New
This Year: Antique Auto
Motorcycle
Motorcycle Dealer
|
1964
Yellow on Black
|
***************
As for 1960, plates have been seen with reversed colours.
The comments for 1960 apply here, except that for 1964 the plates in
question have serials higher than the 20 00 00 series.
 |
OTHER TYPES ISSUED IN 1964
and still required for my collection
Dealer [D prefix]
General Tractor [GT prefix]
Dealer Salesman [S prefix]
Farm & Fisherman
[FM prefiz]
Amateur Radio
Heavy
Trailer [TX prefix]
Antique Auto
Motorcycle
Motorcycle Dealer
|
1965
|
For
passenger cars in 1965, a white on green window sticker was issued to go with
the 1964 plate. I DO NOT own this sticker.
It is an image
of a sticker found in a display in the Halifax area.
 |
UPGRADE WANTED
OTHER TYPES
ISSUED IN 1965 and still required for my collection
Dealer [D prefix]
General Tractor [GT prefix]
Dealer
Salesman [S prefix]
Farm Tractor Class II
[FX prefix]
Amateur Radio
Heavy Trailer [TX
prefix]
Antique Auto
Motorcycle
Motorcycle Dealer
|
1966
Black on Yellow |
1966 plate revalidated for
1968
|
OTHER TYPES
ISSUED IN 1966 and still needed for my collection
Dealer [D prefix]
General Tractor [GT prefix]
Dealer Salesman [S prefix]
Farm & Fisherman
[FM prefiz]
Amateur Radio
Heavy
Trailer [TX prefix]
Antique Auto
Motorcycle
Motorcycle Dealer
|
|
1967
|
For
passenger cars in 1967, a black on white sticker was affixed to
the 1966 plate.
 |
OTHER TYPES
ISSUED IN 1967
and still needed for my collection
Dealer [D prefix]
General Tractor [GT prefix]
Dealer
Salesman [S prefix]
Farm &
Fisherman [FM prefiz]
Amateur Radio
Heavy Trailer [TX
prefix]
Antique Auto
Motorcycle
Motorcycle Dealer
|
|
1968
|
For
passenger cars in 1968, a white on red sticker was affixed
to the
1966 plate.
 |
I don't actively collect motorcycle plates
but
received this one in a group trade.
Even with a
missing corner it is a nice plate.
***************
OTHER TYPES
ISSUED IN 1968
and still needed for my collection
Dealer [D prefix]
General Tractor [GT prefix]
Dealer Salesman [S prefix]
Farm
Tractor Class II [FX prefix]
Farm & Fisherman
[FM prefiz]
Amateur Radio
Heavy
Trailer [TX prefix]
Antique Auto
Motorcycle Dealer
|
1969 to 1971
1969-dated three year base plate for all types.
Yellow on black for all types except Commercial Half-Year.
No separate 1970 or 1971 plates |
1969
to
1971
Yellow on Black
1970: Gold on Black Sticker
1971 Black on Gold Sticker |
OTHER TYPES
ISSUED IN 1969-1971 and still needed
for my collection
Motorcycle
Motorcycle Dealer
Commercial [C prefix]
Dealer [D prefix]
Dealer Salesman [S prefix]
[Last Issue]
Half-Year Commercial [CX prefix]
Amateur Radio
Heavy
Trailer [TX prefix]
Antique Auto
***************
HALF YEAR PLATES (CX prefix):
Red on Yellow
This plate has a Dec 71 expiry sticker,
which confuses the concept that Half Year
plates all expired on July 15 |
The ham plate type is especially interesting as a
unique
font was used for the digit "one".
The two letter I's
are in the font used on other
plate types for the digit "one"
Keep in mind that
the letter "I" was used ONLY
on amateur radio
plates.
This very rough FX plate has had a hard life.
Fills a space
here until I obtain a better one.
This is my only plate from
the rare TX series. This one is a nice
Sean Moore
restoration of a rough base.
|