I have started this thread as an easy way to find reference for ARTS&P dating

The origin was
http://www.shlrc.mq.edu.au/~robinson/Information/ARTSP.html

who reference it to
How Old is Your Radio, H.R.S.A. Newsletter, October 1987, P20

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1934 White, serial number prefixed by the letter A
1935-1936 Pale blue, serial number prefixed by the letter B
1936 Pale blue, serial number prefixed by the letter C
1937 Pale blue, serial number prefixed by the letter D
1938 Pale blue, serial number prefixed by the letter E
1939-1940 Pale blue, serial number prefixed by the letter F
1940-1941 Pale blue, serial number prefixed by the letter G
1942-1946 Pale blue, serial number prefixed by the letter H
1946-1952 Dark Green with red letters, serial number prefixed by the letter T
1952-1955 Orange with dark green letters, serial number prefixed by the letter T
1955-1960s Small pale blue, with dark blue letters, no prefix to the serial number.


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The 1934 label was a plastic card riveted on. The rest are transfers.

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In light of posts below:
1935 B can also be a pale blue plastic card riveted on.
1940/1941 G can also be orange

I've got the plastic label in pale blue riveted on my mystery uprights chassis. It's a No.4 label, serial no.B5290.
The radio appears to be a little earlier than 1935 though, so I wonder if older models that were getting licenced got a paper label, while brand newies got the water slide transfer, or if they simple changed from one to the other in the first couple months of 1935?
I guess when you think about it, it would have been near impossible to issue the new tranfers to every licencing agent Australia wide by the 1/1/35. More than likely they had begun printing the plastic B series labels sometime in 34, before they decided to trade in the drill and rivoter for a bowl of water, leaving them with "old stock" to ge rid of.

You could be right. The labels may have been bought and paid for before attachment, and a stock would have been needed since radios could not be sold without their label.

My comment about the white plastic label was not in the referenced material. So a line is between it and the rest of the post. It is my recollection from a source I don't remember but probably EA, Silicon Chip or HRSA Radio Waves.
I've always assumed since the HRSA article said the '35 label was light blue, that it was a transfer.
Hopefully someone will know if both exist. Unfortunately I don't have a '35 radio.

(addition: have since noticed that Brad shows the white plastic label in Tutorials - Knowing how to date old radios)

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an example of a riveted B label
http://theater.com.au/Radios%20and%20Electronics/slides/Item%20172%20-%201936%28re%20boxed%29%20Voxola%20%28BACK%29.html

The B labels in 1935 were light blue and were made of cellulose at first but I think they managed to change over to transfers (like the old motor rego labels) before 1936. I am sure I've seen both types in B but I only have a radio with the cellulose label that rivets on as far as I've been able to see.

Here is a different take on the labels. No mention is made of plastic labels in '35.
It also mentions orange as well as blue in 40/41. So as with many other things in vintage radio, there can be exceptions to the rule.

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http://vwgc.org.au/notes.htm#Gramo

These stickers were attached to the back of Australian radios, commencing in 1934 with the code letter 'A', and continuing with a new letter each year until the letter 'H' in 1941/2. After that they continued without the code letters.

The first codes to be used were printed on white celluloid plastic with the letter A code on them. This letter code represented 1934.

Subsequent licences consisted of a transfer on the metal chassis.

Each year following a new code was introduced. However some yearly codes did overlap into the next year (as was the case 1937/ 1938 and 1940/41)

1935 was blue label code B
1936 was blue label code C
1937 was blue label code D
1938 was blue label code E
1939 was blue label code F
1940/41 was both blue and orange label code G.
1941/42 EXTREMELY RARE CODE OF letter H. Very few sets exist with this code.

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I haven't seen an explanation of the No in the top left corner No4, No5, No6 etc. I've assumed that if No 1 runs out of numbers at the bottom right following the letter then proceed to No 2 & so on - ie series 1, 2, 3 etc in the one year.
Does anyone know?

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An example of H posted recently:
http://vintage-radio.com.au/default.asp?f=2&th=122

Sticker sequence 6 also spelled out ie SIX