Form 4473 and Date of Issuance

[buff]

I went to purchase a new rifle this weekend and for the first time used my CHL. The store personnel came back to me a short time later and stated that they couldn't find the "date of issuance" on my CHL. I agree there's nothing on the face of the card that shows a date issued. They stated that normally the date was 'encoded' in the number to the left of the picture, but they couldn't make anything of mine and had not seen a CHL like this before. I have one of the new-fangled CHLs.

Is there a date of issuance somewhere on the card? How does one go about decoding it? I looked at the sample 4473, and sure enough, it has a spot for date of issuance. Anyone else had an issue with the new format CHL yet?

Thanks!