New York Governor

Kentucky Chief Justice

Ever since the days of early motor vehicle registration there has always been fierce competition amongst drivers to obtain a low-number license plate. In many states, to many motorists, bearing a low-number plate has an instant connotation of status, power, wealth, and even political connections. While there are some states where this phenomenon is more prevalent than others, here I will examine the collectability of the elusive political license plate.

Arkansas House Parlament	Arkansas House of Reps	Ark. Secretary of State	Ark. Speaker of the House
Arkansas Senator	Connecticut Congress	Idaho Governor	Illinois House

As soon as license plates were adopted for use on automobiles, very often it was the governor, motor vehicle commissioner or some other political person of influence who would receive low-number license plates. It is true that traditionally the governor of each state does receive a license plate bearing the number one. As time passed, and the number of license categories has proliferated (i.e. passenger car, bus, truck, motorcycle, veteran, senate, purple heart, handicapped, etc.), we now have low-number and number one license plates for many of these categories. Here I will use the state of Rhode Island as a prime example. In Rhode Island, not only does the governor use the number one registration (this particular plate bearing the number one flanked by two state seals), but look at the other categories of number ones: Sheriff, U.S. Senate, U.S. House, School Bus, Purple Heart, Ex Prisoner of War, News Photographer, State Police , etc.). Collectors always get excited over a number one license plate, and when it comes to collectability, it seems that the political plates are the most sought after. In our post September 11th world, fewer political figures are using political license plates. Many simply do not want to be a possible target of an attack or crime, and therefore prefer to keep a low profile. As such, political license plates have become a bit mores scarce these days. Of course, those using these plates never seem to have a problem when it comes to parking! Number one and or governor license plates can usually be found in nice condition and, depending on the state, can sell for between $50 and $500 each. Senate and legislative plates with higher numbers can often be found for as little as $15-$25 each. Often a collector will ask the political figure to autograph the license plate.

Idaho U.S. Rep.	North Carolina House	N.H. Governor	Maine Horseless Crg.
Tennessee Legislature	N.Y. U.S. Congress	Tennessee U.S. Senate	New York U.S. Senate

In the low-number realm, certain states have a policy that allows a low-number plate to be willed to a family member (this is true in almost all of the New England states) and others, such as Delaware, have a policy that dictates that a license plate remains with the vehicle when the vehicle is sold. As a direct result, Delaware has created a scenario where the pursuit of a low-number plate is somewhat of a religion. Often, one can see a vehicle for sale for several thousands dollars more than its true worth, simply because there is a hefty premium on the attached low-number license plate. On Feb. 7, 2008 the number six registration was sold in Delaware for a record $675,000. It is important to note here that in these cases it is the rights to the registration and not the actual license plate as a collectible is what command such a high price.

Rhode Island Governor	Rhode Island House	R.I. Purple Heart	Rhode Island Sheriff
Rhose Island House	Rhode Island Senate	R.I. State Police	New Jersey Governor

So you may ask at this point, what license plate does the president of the United States use in the District of Columbia? Currently, President Barack Obama’s car (alias The Beast) bears a generic Washington, D.C. license plate. It is actually the Mayor of Washington .D.C., Adrian M. Fenty, who is assigned the number one license plate!

Maine House Indian Representative	Maryland House of Delegates	Rhode Island News Photographer	New Hampshire Governor's Council
Texas U.S. Senate	Utah U.S. Senator	Vermont Senate	Utah Governor

Political and low-number plates are interesting and challenging categories for collectors of both license plates and political memorabilia. If these areas is of particular interest to you, be prepared to write a lot of letters!

Andy Bernstein is a Worthologist who specializes in collectible license plates.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Brimfield, Mass., is a small New England town with a population of about 5,000 or so. Settled in 1706, it shows its traditional New England quaintness rather well. It has its large, steepled church, and with the leaves of autumn or the snow of winter, looks the part in any Norman Rockwell painting. And then for one week every spring, fall, and summer, the population doubles with 5,000 antique dealers converging on Brimfield to create the “Antique Capital of the United States.”

I had the most unique opportunity to go antique hunting with Will Seippel, CEO and founder of WorthPoint.com to learn about furniture and other things that caught his eye. Will is quite the collector himself and he finds the most fascinating items.

We wandered to the original show that started it all back in 1959; J&J Promotions. There are 20 different shows now at Brimfield, and Will was glad to be back to the place where he himself was a dealer about 20 years ago.

The first stop was the RCA, Edison Electric booth. We were greeted by an oversized Nipper, the original RCA Victor logo and mascot—you remember, the perplexed black and white dog looking into the new fangled Victrola that played the original 78 rpm records. Will found quite a stack of original Edison wax cylinders used for the original phonograph or gramophone. “The thing you have to be careful for is that they don’t end up with a mold on them. When that happens, no more sound.” Will says. These cylinders are very plentiful and the WorthPoint Worthopedia has many auctions where similar cylinders sold on average of $3 to $5 each.

Interestingly, Will walked into a trailer displaying early phonograph cabinets and noticed one from the Sonora Phonograph Company of New York, N.Y.

“It actually belonged to my great-grandfather and that was his record company,” Will says. The company produced phonographs from about 1907 and later also distributed radios until the company closed in 1930. Will tells the story of his grandfather locking the plant after a union strike which bankrupted the firm, all while his father, the true owner of the company, was on vacation. Still, a well preserved Sonora phonograph has been sold at auction for $200 to $300.

I pulled a surprise on Will that day. As the Worthologist recruiter for WorthPoint then, I passed a box full of old license plates and informed Will that we just brought on our own Worthologist for license plates, a very collectible item these days. We found plates for Massachusetts 1966, California 1974, New Hampshire, Kentucky 1970, and Michigan 1976 still in its wrappers.

“I always like to see the ones from Washington, D.C. with ‘No Taxation Without Representation,’” Will says. To get a good idea as to the value of any early license plates visit WorthPoint’s Worthologist Andy Bernstein. Some very early license plates have values into the thousands if you know what to look for.

As always, antiquing with Will Seippel is a great educational experience. Will’s stories, knowledge and the practiced eye made me a better collector. Everyone should go antiquing with Will at least once. It was a great treat.

To watch a video of Will Seippel’s tour of Brimfield, click here.

To see an example of an Editon gramaphone, click here.

To see an example of an Sonora phonograph, click here.

To visit Andy Bernstein’s Worthologist home page, click here.

Tom Carrier is a general Worthologist, with an expertise in a wide variety of subjects, including vexillology, or the study of flags.

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For Bernstein, it all began when as a 9-year-old at summer camp, the cook staff gave him outdated Florida and Mississippi license plates. That acquisition turned Bernstein into a boy with a mission.

Andy would cruise through shopping-mall parking lots on his bike, and if he spied an out-of-state plate, he’d linger until the driver came back to his car and ask if he could have the plate when it expired. “Often they were people who had just moved, and they had to get new plates,” Bernstein said.

1958 plate depicting a favorite Colorado pastime (left), New Hampshire’s Live Free or Die plate (is that referring to the moose?) (right)

Though, it wasn’t all that easy. “People’s reactions were usually suspicious, ‘Why do you want those plates?’ or ‘You can’t have them, they have to be turned in,’” Bernstein said. A couple of times a week, he would pedal over to the local junkyard in search of plates on wrecks. “At first, the owner was pretty unfriendly. He didn’t want a kid in there where he could be hurt,” Bernstein said. “But over time, we became friends.”

“It was a long uphill battle, but after about five years, I had managed to collect a license plate from every state and the District of Columbia,” Bernstein said. It was also around this time that a now teenage Bernstein discovered the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association. “I couldn’t believe it,” Bernstein said. “I realized I wasn’t in this alone. I wasn’t the only crazy one.”

Bernstein immediately joined and began building a network of friendships that has been even more valuable than the licenses plates he has collected—and he has amassed more than 65,000 plates.

Texas plate remembering the space-shuttle disaster (left), a to-drool-for Maine lobster plate (right)

The license plate, as we know it, began in Massachusetts in 1903, and by the late teens, all the states had adopted some type of standardized license plate. The most sought-after plates are from this early period, particularly those that were porcelain or enamel, which were soon replaced with painted, metal plates. For more on license-plate history and markets, see Bernstein’s blog, The Lure of Collecting Automobile License Plates.

There has been an explosion of varieties and styles of license plates—with specialized plates, vanity plates, and changing styles and graphics. “It is quite common now that when a state is going to change its license plate, it posts several designs on a Web site and lets people vote,” Bernstein said.

A vanity plate from Alabama where someone loves Jon (left) and one from Kentucky showing allegiance to the Louisville Cardinals (right)

The rise of Internet selling, (including at Bernstein’s site, Plate Hut), the variety of plates and the advent of new collectors—including a rise in international collectors—have all led to the creation of “micromarkets,” Bernstein said. “For a 1931 Model A Ford owner in Illinois, the finishing touch is getting 1931 Illinois plates. That is a specialized market.”

In fact, Bernstein sometimes gets calls from film companies looking for period plates to put on a car being used in a scene. License-plate art and handicrafts is another market, as license plates have been used to make items as varied as CD cases, purses, dustpans, toolboxes and birdhouses, Bernstein said.

Europeans have been especially fascinated with American license plates, Bernstein said. “License plates in Europe tend to be long and black with just numbers and maybe a letter to indicate the country, so our plates with their designs and colors really catch the eye.”

The prices for license plates, as a result or these complex and varied markets, have remained strong, Bernstein said. Still, while the rarest porcelain plate can fetch $10,000, a beginner starting out with a one-plate-per-state goal can manage for between $150 and $350.

As for his own collecting, Bernstein is in the hunt to add commemorative, political and picture plates to his collection—as well as those rare and elusive porcelain plates. And where does he store them all? Well, some are with his parents and some with a friend. But a large portion are arranged on a bookshelf in his apartment. “My brother says he feels sorry for the people who live downstairs,” Bernstein said, “because one day they are going to be buried in an avalanche of license plates.”

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License plates have fast become moving billboards for all kinds of messages and causes. As Americans vow to never forget the events of Sept. 11th, 2001, colorful patriotic license plates displaying slogans such as “United We Stand,” “We Will Never Forget,” “Fight Terrorism,” and “God Bless America” have become very popular throughout the United States. As I have stated before, with license plate collecting, one can focus on a myriad of categories and themes and the “United We Stand” or Sept. 11th plates clearly demonstrate this point.

Shortly after Sept. 11th, 2001, legislation was introduced in most states to issue specialty license plates incorporating a patriotic message along with a prominent image of the American Flag. These commemorative plates have proven to be quite popular among collectors. In nice condition, prices for these plates generally run between $25 to $150 each.

Interestingly enough, one state which has yet to issue a 9/11 license plate—as these are commonly referred to by collectors—is New York. One would think that it would stand to reason that New York would have been the first state to issue such a plate but this was not the case. There indeed has been much discussion in Albany with DMV officials about a license plate for Sept. 11th, however I have been informed that there has been quite a bit of controversy over the exact design and several sensitivity issues to family members of those touched by these tragic events. About three years ago I saw a prototype of a New York 9/11 plate which featured an image of the two Twin Towers with a ribbon around them but, unfortunately, the state of New York has yet to finalize and issue a license plate for Sept. 11th.

I would speculate that when a design is finalized that such a specialty plate would be one of the most popular specialty license plates ever in the state of New York and without a doubt a very collectible license plate for collectors.

Presidential Inaugural license plates have always been highly sought after by both political collectors and license plate enthusiasts. But be warned: if trying to complete this specific collection, it’s going to be hard, as filling an entire series of inaugural plates is one of the most challenging endeavors of the license plate hobby.

The very first presidential inaugural license plates were issued by the District of Columbia on March 4, 1933 to commemorate what would be Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first inauguration. Since then, these special license plates have been issued for each inauguration with the exception of 1945, when an effort to conserve metal due to World War II was in effect.

These colorful plates—always in a red, white and blue theme—were to be issued in lieu of regular registration plates during a three month period and valid from January 1 through the last day of March. A key element when focusing on the collectability of these unique plates is the actual number on the plate and the individual to whom it was assigned. By tradition, the number 1 plate is reserved for the president of the United States and the number 2 plate is reserved for the vice president. All other single-digit and double-digit plates are normally issued to VIPs, senators or legislators.

In 1933 there were approximately 500 pairs of these plates issued. These first-issue inaugurals generally bring between $5,000 and $7,000 each if in very good condition. In 1937 and 1941, there were about 1,000 pairs issued. A 1937 plate in very good condition would be worth $1,500-$2,500, while a nice 1941 would be worth about $700-$1,000. Nearly 2,000 pairs were issued in 1949, about 3,000 in 1953, and some 4,500 pairs in 1957.

The small quantity of presidential inaugural plates for the early years has added significantly to the intrinsic value of a presidential inaugural license plate collection. Most experienced collectors will undoubtedly agree that the first two inaugural plates, 1933 and 1937, are the toughest to find.

An interesting note in the design of both the 1953 and 1957 plates are the two oval portraits of Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. The photos are actual decals that were affixed to the plates during manufacturing. It should be noted that in comparing the photos of both presidents in the 1953 and 1957 plates that both men are smiling in the 1953 photos but appear much more serious in the 1957 photos. Both of these style inaugural plates would generally be worth between $175 and $250 each if in very good condition.

All inaugural license plates from 1933 to 1957 were made of steel with embossed numbers and letters. The 1961 and 1965 plates were made of flat aluminum and were fully silk-screened with printed numbers.

In 1969, inaugural committee staff members were issued plates with a “B” prefix and in 1973 used an “S” prefix. In 1973, White House staff members used plates with a “WH” designation.

Andy Bernstein is a Worthologist who specializes in license plates.

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This scenario is certainly not the case today. No other hobby related to the automobile has become more popular in the past 10 years or so than the collecting, studying, researching, trading, buying, selling and the quest for valuable automobile tags, with shiny new plates sought after as avidly as the rusty older ones.

With the advent of the silk-screening process in license-plate manufacturing, thousands of colorful elaborate designs now adorn the bumpers of automobiles in the United States, Canada, Mexico and many other foreign countries. These newer attractive designs are being used to generate what has become a plethora of optional issues. Optional-issued license plates are plates issued for an additional fee, whereby motorists can opt to support all kinds of environmental organizations, a particular university or college, or simply show an affiliation to a particular group. Specialty or optional license plates have proliferated at an unprecedented rate, and it is this phenomenon that has further fueled the interest in license-plate collecting.

Valuation of license plates

Like many collectibles and antiques, the value of a license plate depends greatly on supply and demand. Key factors in determining value include age, the number of plates issued in that particular year and jurisdiction, condition, whether plates for the year in question were issued in pairs or singles, the type of material from which it was manufactured and the desirability of colors, slogans and/or number combinations.

While mass production of state-issued license plates began in Massachusetts in 1903 (see photo), by the late teens, all states had adopted some style of standardized license plate. It is from this period that today’s most sought-after plates originated. The true gems of this period are the porcelain or enamel license plates. These are often quite colorful, durable, attractive to display and very scarce. By the mid-teens, most of the porcelain-style issues had been replaced with cheaper, painted metal plates. Prices of even common porcelain license plates like those of Pennsylvania have definitely escalated, but many can still be purchased in nice condition for $75 or less. (See photo.) On the other end of the spectrum, we find that the scarce and more elusive porcelain license plates can easily fall into the $5,000-$10,000 range. (See photo.)

It is worth noting that as in any hobby or collecting realm, reproductions have also surfaced, but this on a much smaller scale. Often these can readily be identified by a “new” appearance and lack of a maker’s seal on the reverse of the plate.

License-plate collecting approaches

Collecting license plates is one of the most challenging hobbies around. With so many thousands of categories to choose from, it is important to focus on collecting goals, as well as to a set budget. Probably one of the most common projects a collector embarks on is that of completing a “one-per-state” display, usually composed of passenger license plates of recent vintage. One can easily complete this goal with a budget of $150-$350 depending on the type of plates sought. The toughest plate to complete a U.S. set? The elusive Washington, D.C., license plate! This is due to the fact that few of these are issued and that plates in the District of Columbia are permanent.

While the “one-per-state” project is going on, the average collector usually begins his own state “run.” A “state run” consists of one passenger-car plate for each year of issue since the first plates came into use in that particular state. If your state began motor-vehicle registration in 1910, you would seek a plate for each year with the eventual goal of an almost 100-year span!

A popular third goal for many collectors is a “birthyear set” with one-plate-per-state for the year of your birth. If you were born in 1929, you were lucky in the sense that every state did issue a plate that year. For those born during the 1941-1946 era, this would represent an extremely challenging endeavor due to the fact that most states issued windshield stickers, tabs or decals during the war years as a result of the metal shortage. Many of these windshield stickers that validated the license plate would bring $100-$250 each when available.

The main thing to remember is to keep within your budget and storage space. You can have just as much fun in the license-plate hobby with a few limited goals as the collector who collects everything in sight.