Austria / Germany

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This is a very interesting plate from the period of 1939-1945. During that time Austria was a part of Germany and plates from the pre-1945 German system were used. They usually had a province or city code followed by a dash and numerals. TV stands for Tirol and Vorarlberg. These two Austrian provinces were merged into one during the German occupation, because Vorarlberg would have been too small for a German province.

The most intersting feature about this plate is that it is self-illuminated. At first, I was not at all aware of this plate type. But I was shown an old advertisement from the early 1930s praising the advantages of illuminated plates. My plate has "Herm. Riemann, Chemnitz" written on it. A quick Google search showed that this was indeed a vehicle lamp manufacturer.

	This is a front view of the plate. You can see the translucent base with plastic characters attached. Beneath the dash is a holder for the authority seal. I have no idea what kind of seal would have been inserted there. Currently, there is an orange translucent plastic disk with a textile backing in it. Either it was inserted by someone in the past decades, or it is the rotten remnants of the actual seal.
	Here you can see a picture taken in the dark with the plate illuminated. (Yes, the bulbs still work!)
	Here is the back view of the plate. At the top, there are two big silver screws which hold the light bulbs. At the bottom is an insulated screw where the positive electricity wire is connected. Negative electricity is provided via the case. On the sides, there are two mounting screws.
	This is the side view. You can see that the box is wider at the top, where the light bulbs are mounted.
	Here one of the holding screws is opened and the light bulb taken out.

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