Style #2, Stainless on Stainless: 1947-1950

These plates are essentially "kit" plates with loose numbers affixed to a pierced base by way of spot welded rivets that peen over when force is applied in a punch press. This is done either at the factory or at the motor vehicle office. This system allowed for instant replacement of lost plates of the same number, rather than awaiting production of a replacement porcelain plate plus the additional extra paperwork required to change title number and so forth. (In Delaware the vehicle title number and the license plate number are the same.) These plates are made of low-grade 400-series stainless steel, base painted semi- gloss black, numbers natural stainless steel brush-polished, not buffed to high gloss. "DELAWARE" is embossed at top center in plain letters of 5/8" tall, unpainted. The two sets of slots for the month and year tabs are at the bottom. This style is the same size as the previous porcelains, 5 1/2" x 9 1/2". There are no significant varieties within this style, other than some variation in base-metal thickness due to different batches of raw material. Numbers approached very closely, but did not exceed five digits during the approximate four-year period of issuing of this plate style. Original low numbers, four digit and less, in this style are very scarce. Remember that this and subsequent styles are not general re-issues, but instead plate styles phased into an ongoing all numeric progressive system. Thus, these plates began where the porcelains left off, in the high 5-digits. Plus, there were lower 5-digit numbers reactivated on this base. Both high and low in This style are identical and cannot be told apart. Of course, the previous porcelain styles continued to be valid under Delaware's permanent system, using the same tabs as on the newer bases.

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