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ANTIQUES PEEK by Jessica Kosinski
ANTIQUES PEEK

From Numberplate to License Plate

here are many automobile-related license plates. Such differences are part of
collectibles people enjoy collecting. what makes collectors so interested in
TPeople have had fascinations with license plate collections.
cars since the first ones were produced.
Today, there are collectors of cars them- License Plates Were Influenced
selves, car-related advertising, hood orna- by World Events
ments, and more. However, in this month’s Many world events have also influenced
column, we are going to take a peek at col- the shape, size, materials, and content of
lecting something else entirely, license plates. license plates over the years. One of the best
License plates have a surprisingly rich and examples occurred in 1944. When World
diverse history, which is definitely worth Indiana state government began licensing autos statewide in War II broke out, metal shortages became
delving into. 1905. Motorists registering with the state received a dashboard common. As a result, license plates had to be
disc with an all-numeric serial number. produced using everything from cardboard
Why Were License Plates Important? to plastic. Obviously, such materials are not as
Early cars did not initially need license plates. long-lasting and resilient as metal and these license
However, as more and more vehicles were issued, plates can be difficult to find today.
certain problems began to develop – horse and
buggy drivers were often given preferential Standardization of License Plate Sizes
treatment; vehicle owners traveling between towns There was no standardization of license plate
often encountered completely different rules of the sizes until 1957. Standards were developed after a
road from one town to the next. The establishment meeting was held that year between many world
of uniform rules and license plates helped to Early Massachusetts Porcelain License Plate organizations. To this day those standards differ in
eliminate such issues to ease the traffic flow. They certain regions depending upon the guidelines
also served one of the same purposes they still do adopted.
today, which was helping to identify drivers. In the U.S. every license plate has been the same
size since that year. For that reason, many pre-
When Were the Earliest 1957 license plates are quite desirable because they
License Plates Produced? often have unique shapes and sizes.
Today, we think of license plates as staples on all
vehicles – cars, trucks, vans, tractors, etc. This was The North American Vanity Plate
not always the case. Another type of desirable license plate is the
The invention of the car dates back to the 1880s WWII French Military Plate vanity plate. The term “vanity plate” refers to
but it was not until 1893 that the first plates requested by drivers to have spe-
license plates with numbers were issued. cific letters or numbers. A driver can use
That took place in France. Here in the a vanity plate for purposes like paying
United States each state and territory had homage to a favorite movie star or sports
its own timeline and procedures for issu- team.
ing license plates. The first license plates There are some restrictions as far as
were required in New York starting in what is allowable for content, such as the
1901, but vehicle owners were expected fact that vanity plates cannot usually
to make their own. It took until 1909 for contain obvious obscenities and are
the state of New York to begin issuing restricted as far as how many letters/
standardized plates. numbers will fit on the plate. Today, we
take vanity plates for granted, but they
License Plates Haven’t Always were not allowed in the United States
until 1965.
Looked the Same Early New York License Plate with Initials Only
License plates issued in different Rare Versus Common
countries, or even in the same country License Plates
during different decades, can look License plates come in differing
completely different from one another. degrees of rarity for many reasons. A
For example, modern European license particular material might have been rare
plates and those issued here in the United during a certain time, such as metal
States have different shapes. throughout World War II.
The materials used to make the plates License plates from a certain area can
and information contained on them also also be rare due to a lack of vehicles in
varied by time period and location. For that area at the time. In the earlier days
example, Massachusetts used to issue of automobile use, Alaska had a very low
porcelain license plates starting in 1903. population of drivers. For that reason,
Meanwhile, in 1928, Idaho became the early Alaskan license plates are almost
first U.S. state to feature a motto on its 1944 Metal Shortage Soybean License Plate Illinois

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