VARIATIONS

1914:  Large holes 3599, small holes 7034.

1916 TAB:  Front has "LICENSE NUMBER", serial number and date,

           Rear has "OWNERS NAME", no number or date.

1916-19:  6-digits have thinner font than 1-5-digits.

1920:  Die variations reported on legend.

1921:  Small "C" of CAL, large date 4841,

       Wide "C" of CAL, small date 190607.

1924:  Large star 27-411, small star 37-599.

1925:  F-44 351, F-58 679 hyphen, F52 418 - F57 629 no hyphen.

1928:  Close or wide spacing on 6-digits.

1932-38:  Hyphens on replacement plates only.

1934-35:  Type 1 - Rounded legends (Norton) All A - L

          Type 2 - Squared legends (Kittle) All M - Z

1939:  Flat-topped "A" of legend or point-topped "A" of legend.

1940:  Wide "0" of date 6F 855, Thin "0" of date 5Q 29 29.

1941:  Type 1 - 1 3/8" between "19" and "C" of "CALIFORNIA"

                60 C 641, 43 M 259

       Type 2 - 1 5/8" between same legends

                08 D 874, 72 N 713, 69 T 965, 63 Y 471, 5B 63 58

       Type 3 - As Type 2, but rounded "9" of date, not square

1942:  Type 1 - Spacing 1A 101 - 1L 92 86, 1N 955 - 1Q 94 88,

                        2A 17 55 - 3E 52 97, 3N 12 45 - 3T 21 74

       Type 2 - Spacing 1 M 4516 - 1 M 9869, 1 R 1165 - 1 X 7309

                        (including 1 U 686), 3 G 9969 - 3 J 1246

               (Verify 1Y,1Z,2R,2S,3F,3K,3L,3M)

1947-50 BASE

Type 1 - Wide 1940-46 dies, steel   (1A to 8Y)

Type 2 - Thin dies, aluminum        (8Y to 99Z, 10A to 72B)

Type 3 - Medium angular dies, steel (88Z to 84A)

Type 4 - Thin dies, steel, 4 holes, equal "B" (10A to 72B)

Type 5 - As Type 4, but 8 holes     (18B to 71B)

Type 5 - 1951 dies, steel, 8 holes  (57B to 58B)

Type 7 - As Type 4, but unequal "B" (66B to 68B)

Type 8 - As Type 5, but unequal "B" (66B to 67B)

Odd spacing:  24 B1 164 - 24 B2 023 (23B 5 153, 24B 3 500 normal)

After studying several hundred bases, Types 2 - 7 seem to follow no

exact patterns, other than general ranges of overlapping possibility.

All 7-figure "A" prefixes are verified except 48A and 61A.

All 7-figure "B" prefixes are verified up to 42B; then after a large

gap (about 117,000 pairs), prefixes 56B to 72B are verified

except 62B, 63B and 65B.

1963-69 BASE

Differences in date noted, some without apostrophe; date is faint

or omitted on some series after XAA 000 (1969).  Letter variations:

A:  Flat top -      AAA 301 - DAN 869, FGA 761 - GQA 656

    Point top -     DAU 382 - FFA 694, GTA 145 - SQA 890

    Very flat top - SXA 056 - ZZA 591

O:  Square - AOA 520 - COD 804, GOB 000 - IOW 055, OAH 000 - OQY 590

    Round -  DOA 477 - FOE 470, JOR 524 - NOY 020, ORC 709 - ZOY 598

Q:  Square - AQA 144 - CQZ 324, FQM 572 - GQY 401

    Round -  DQD 048 - EQZ 190, HQA 821 - PQX 315

    Curly-tailed began 1966 at RQA 000 - ZQZ 855

S:  Tiny top hook -   ABS 461 - CYS 595, FHS 071 - FZS 410,

                      GDS 682 - GSX 682, IIS 564 - JDS 082,

                      KSF 077, KSZ 077 - KSZ 123

    Normal top hook - DBS 080 - FBS 416, GCS 420, HBS 535 - HTS 986,

                      JIS 331 - KPS 916, KSH 357 - KSU 001,

                      KTS 786 - ZXS 186

1969-87 BASE

1976:  Thin dies 031 SVK, thick dies 637 SXD.

1982:  Serifs added to "I" at 1GIA000.

1984:  Some have "CA" debossed in UL box, 1KXV043, "FEB 85",

       reported starting at 1KVA000.

1983-2009 BASE

Some plates have "CA" debossed in UL box.

2COS487 has zero die, 2COX935 has correct "O" die.

2ZXM580 has inverted "W" die.