When was this picture taken?

May 18, 2017 1:12 AM

Can you help me date this picture by looking at the clothes?

Things I know:
1) The description of the picture is 100 % wrong
2) This is a picture of an outing of the Austrian Broadcasting company RAVAG, which existed between 1924 and 1958
3) I think it would be a mistake to date it by looking at the bus, because depending on when this was taken it's possible that they used very old vehicles, because a lot of vehicles were destroyed during the war(s).

posted by Omnomnom to Grab Bag (5 answers total)

Sorry for trying to date it by looking at the bus, but this might help to narrow the period down:

Looking at the number plate of the bus, it matches a format used between 1930 and 1939.
Even if they used old vehicles after the war, they probably would have used new plates, and they had no plates starting with A after the war.

From Wikipedia:
From 1930 until 1939, the plates comprised one letters followed by five digits. (e.g. B 12345) The thousands of digits encoded the districts.

See here for more examples from this period.
posted by Akke at 1:46 AM on May 18, 2017 [13 favorites]

The österreichisches verkehrsbüro was temporarily liquidated in 1938 with the Anschluss, so it's before then.

Better quality picture here
posted by Akke at 1:49 AM on May 18, 2017 [10 favorites]

Best answer: Last update:
according to this, the plate was registered in 1937. The brand of the bus matches, so I'd say the picture was made between 1937 and 1938.
posted by Akke at 2:39 AM on May 18, 2017 [37 favorites]

Okay, one more:

location: here.
At the rear of the Vorau Monastery
posted by Akke at 7:41 AM on May 18, 2017 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: I bow to Akke!
posted by Omnomnom at 8:43 AM on May 18, 2017 [3 favorites]