The photos on this
website, whether provided by me or other contributors, are intended for use
solely on this website, and may not be otherwise used without permission.
This is a
reference-only website, no plate sales.
What's new in the last 30 days?
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thumbnail images to enlarge ٠ Click links to go to plate galleries
Here is a new high number U.S. Air Force Veteran
plate. This plate series dates back to 2009, with the starting point of
20011A/F. These plates have used the map
outline at least as far back as 22932A/F.
Thanks to
Bruce Bufalini for the photo.
The
following highs, without pictures, have also been reported by
Bruce Bufalini.
#1 plates are always special. Here is
a photo of the number one In God We Trust
plate thanks to Brandon Sowers.
These plates date back to 2014. This is actually the only low number plate
documented so far. From the start this plate type appeared to be using
2-tiered system where standard issue plates started at G/T00130, and the low
number plates were held in reserve. There are currently only about a dozen
or so plates between G/T00001 and G/T00129.
I have inquired in the past about this practice, and found out that transparency
in government does not apply.
Speaking of #1 plates, here's the first
Eagle Scout plate issued. Back on 8/22 we had the first photo of such a
plate. These plates date back to 2019, and as of 9/10, there were only 25
serial numbered plates in use. Thanks to Stephen Noll for the photo.
Here is a link to the Vanity Pagewherean
assortment of personalized plates are posted each week. This week's plates
are from Bill Ceravola, Howard Kelly and Arthur Levine.
This is a Format 6 Antique Motorcycle
plate. These white on purple plates were issued between 1967 and 2013.
While this style is no longer being issued, these are still in use and common at
motorcycle events. Format 6 indicates that there have been several
variations of legend placement, hole spacing, serial formatting, etc. prior to
this plate. This photo is thanks to Matt Ciecka.
This is a Classic Motorcycle
plate. This plate type dates back to 1994 but are much rarer than the
Antique Motorcycle plate. This, like the plate above measures, 4½ inches
by 8 inches, and is still a valid format, although newer plates follow
the family of plates format. This photo is also thanks to Matt Ciecka.
This is one of Pennsylvania's rarest plates.
How many have actually seen one of these on the road, or in the field?
This is a low number Implement of
Husbandry plate thanks to Bryan Hummel. Like the SME plate below,
these plates date back to 1984. The highest known plate on this base is
IMP-2167. Today there seems to be fewer such plates in use. For
calendar year 2020 there were only 175 such plates registered. By
comparison for 2020, there were only 57
Commercial Implement of Husbandry vehicles registered. Fewer plates,
but easier to spot on the road.
This is the lowest number Special Mobile Equipment
plate I've seen, but I have the starting point listed as SME-0000. Anyone
have a lower number? These plates date back to about 1984, and were
intended to replace Tractor plates. When Tractor plates were discontinued,
they were replaced either by Implement of Husbandry (IMP) or Special Mobile
Equipment (SME) plates, depending on their use. Thanks to Bryan Hummel for
this photo.
Here is a very nice 1914 Tractor plate that
was recently acquired by Jeff Hinkle. 1914 was the first year for tractor
plates. These plates were white on black porcelain-coated steel, and
issued in pairs for 1914 and '15 only. The plate shown here measures 6
inches by 12 inches; however, 6-inch by 8-, 10- and 14-inch sizes were also
issued depending on the number of characters. The series high is at least
E1066.
This plate may not look like anything out of
the ordinary, but it's actually a
1930 Weight Class V Truck plate. PA began using the R through Z
weight class system in 1924, but for some reason abandoned that system in favor
of a 2-letter suffix system to designate weight classes. This system made
truck plates in general hard to identify. The V class was allocated to use
00PA to 999PZ. Many thanks to Jeff Lesher for the use of this image.
This 1946 Z-Weight Class Truck plate
is much easier to identify. Still the scarcity of Z-class makes it
a tough plate to collect. All truck plates that year were made up of 5
characters, and measured 6 inches by 11 inches. Following the war they
were still issued as singles. This plate is also thanks to Jeff Lesher.
Jeff has kindly provided quite a few tough older plates, which I will feature
over the next several weeks.
On the far left is a group of Township Supervisor
front plates. Most are dated between 1966 and 1969. Photo source is
unknown. The next photo is a Township Commissioner front plate. This
plate was recently acquired by Bob Connison. I do have a page featuring
this and other official and semi-official plates.
9/5/2021 Posting
This is a very rare Air
Force Cross plate. The award denotes the second highest Air Force
decoration for extreme heroism in combat. As of 8/30/21 only plates 2, 5, 6 & 7
have been issued. Plate 00002A/C was
previously spotted by Tom Perri with a
6-16 validation sticker. This latest plate has the map outline.
Here is a new high Bronze Star plate.
The Bronze Star Medal is awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces
for either heroic achievement or service, or meritorious achievement or service
in a combat zone. There is also a
Bronze Star for
Valor plate. Thanks to Jaska
Börner for the photo.
Here is another new Antique Vehicle high.
This was spotted at the Wheels of Time car show in Macungie. As with most
of PA's plates, numbers advance first, then the letter in the 4th position, then
the 3rd spot and finally the letter in the first position.
I don't get it — why spend $ to
purchase an organizational plate, then cover up the name of the organization
with a plate frame?!. That aside, it's a new high Mario
Lemieux Foundation plate, also featuring the updated logo. Thanks
to
Bruce Bufalini for the photo.
Here is a new high
Pennsylvania Coal Alliance, Inc. plate. The photo is thanks to
John Clark. There was an earlier plate back in February, 50150P/C
that may have not had the sticker well. The plate shown here for certain
has no sticker well.
Here is an updated image of a Rose Tree Fire Company No. 1.
The previous image was not as sharp. So far the high spotted was 00011R/T, and
the highest registered is 00014R/T. Their plate program dates back to 2016. Thanks
to Jordan Irazabal for the photo.
This is a new high University of
Delaware plate, reading U/D00626.
This plate type dates back to 2001, so there were never plates on the yellow on blue base.
It started out on the www base and has remained there since. Thanks to Rob Baran for the photo.
Here is a link to the Vanity Pagewhere these and an
assortment of personalized plates are posted each week.
The far left 1934 Passenger plate photo
came from Jeff Hinkle about 4 years ago. Jeff never owned the pair.
The near left plate was recently found by Scott Leitheiser at a flea market.
What is the likelihood that this pair of 87-year-old plates would have a virtual
reunion. These were part of a series that ran from A to Z999 on 6" by 10"
plates as shown here, then from A1000 to Z9999 on 12-inch plates.
This is a 1927 Z-Weight Class Truck
plate. For 1927 the Z-class was the heaviest truck class. The plate
shown here is thanks to Rob Baran, and is considered the series high. The
series would have run from Z-1 to the plate shown here. Sizes were 6 inches by 10 inches
for plates with up to 4 characters, and 6" by 13" as shown here. There was also a 6"
by 15" plates, although the Z-class did not extend to 6 characters, and
would not have needed the 15" size.
8/29/2021 Posting
Here is a pair of McDonald
Volunteer Fire Company plates. Both plates were photographed by
Brendan Sherry; however, the 19 plate is more recent. Vanity check
indicates that 59 serial- numbered plates have been issued. McDonald is a
borough in Allegheny and Washington Counties in western PA.
Here is the latest high Penn State Alumni
Association license plate thanks to Jaska
Börner. I happened to look at Penn
State's web page dealing with such plates and they are not accepting
applications at the present because PennDOT is not fully operational. Were
they ever?
This Disabled Veteran plate is
part of the 2-plate series for vehicles that have equipment on the rear of
the vehicle for carrying a wheelchair or personal assistive device.
Such vehicles are
authorized to be issued two plates since the assistive device and carrier may
block visibility of the vehicle mounted plate. This series started at
DV-79000. The current high in this series is DV-79047.
This is a new high number Emergency Vehicle
plate which is part of the low number series where a registration fee is
required. This group includes the 30- to 37-thousand plate group.
The high number group, which is by far the larger, includes the 50- to
72-thousand series. The 50 to 72 group is also exempt from registration fees.
Thanks to
Bruce Bufalini for this photo.
Here's another Official Use
plate from the 41000-PA series as they move closer to the
42000P/A on the 'family of plates' base. A previous post on 7/4/21 indicated that plates in
both the 41000 and 42000 series are being issued concurrently. If there is
some logical basis for this, I fail to see it. Thanks to
Bruce Bufalini for
this photo. Keep a watch for additional plates.
Here is a link to the Vanity Pagewhere these and an
assortment of personalized plates are posted each week.
The plates shown here, left to right, are
courtesy of Bill Ceravola and Arthur Levine.
Pennsylvania
began issuing plates for disabled or handicapped persons in 1966. Those
early plates used the prefix HP as the identifier. The HP was also used in
the suffix position. Eventually the HP and wheelchair symbol was replaced
by PD for Person with
Disability. I'm guessing this was in the mid-90s. Anyone
know for sure? The far left plates shown here would have been part of the
earliest PD series starting at PD00000 and extending to at least
PD31769 before the re-plating process began in 1999. The low number
plate is thanks to Tim Gierschick, and high number is from Worthpoint.
These very unusual plates are 1927 Motorbike or Motor
Bicycle tags. These beauties were recently acquired by John Willard.
Part of what makes these plates so unique, besides the low numbers, is how few
were issued. The number issued is really not known but likely only in the
hundreds. Between 1920 and 1933 very few plates have survived. Also,
in the years up thru 1933 the letter O was used on Motorbike plates as a prefix
to differentiate between them and Motorcycle plates. At least up through
1927, the letter O and the number 0 were the same size which makes such plates appear
to be all numeric.
This posting follows a recent FaceBook
discussion. Almost all 1956
Truck plates were 5 characters in length; however, toward the end of
production, there was a run of 6 character R-class plates. Some might use
the term overflow plates. In order to accommodate the additional
character, 1957 6-character dies were used. Not to confuse the matter, but
there were also '57 5-character dies used on some later '56 truck plates also.
The 3797 plate above is from Worthpoint, and the 4379 is from Clayton Moore.
This plate also appears to be a new high.
8/22/2021 Posting
Here is the first photo-documentation of an
Eagle Scout
plate. Plate availability check shows that 25 plates have been issued so
far. This plate type was added in November of 2019. Plates have been on the street since February of 2020. Thanks to Nick Tsilakis
for sharing the image.
This Retired Legislator
plate was recently spotted by Jaska
Börner. This plate type dates back
to at least 2004, and so far all such plates spotted have been on the www base.
The number, in this case 002, is believed to correspond to the legislative
district which would be 2. There are also
Retired Senator
plates, which are quite rare.
The section of the
Vehicle Code, 1339, dealing with Legislative Plates, also authorizes plates for
retired members of the U.S. Congress. I have never seen or heard of such a
plate, or would one of the types mentioned above be issued? I would think
a more appropriate legend would be Retired U.S. Congress or Senate.
Here's a cool Classic Vehicle plate.
Yes, it's a vanity. The letter C in the first position is required.
The next four characters are zeros (0) as they are larger than the alpha
characters. The photo is thanks to Matt Ciecka.
This is a new Motorcycle high
which was recently spotted by Jaska
Börner. This plate is part of the
0AA00 series which was first spotted
in mid-2015 and has now progressed to the VF series. Vanity check shows
that registration numbers have advanced into the VW series at the present.
This is a Wild Resources Conservation
plate featuring the Otter. It is part of the
Special Fund plate group. The
plate shown here is also a new high thanks to Nick Tsilakis. There is
quite a bit of history to this plate which started out as the Owl plate in 1993,
and was also the first Special Fund plate.
Here is a new high Temple University
Alumni plate thanks to Matt Ciecka. The Temple plate program dates
back to 1987 on the yellow on blue base. A few even got made with the "You've
Got a Friend in Pennsylvania"
passenger legend.
Here is a link to the Vanity Pagewhere these and an
assortment of personalized plates are posted each week. The
Penn State Alumni
Association plate will be cross-listed with the college organizational plate
page.
On
the far left is a pair of
1911 Passenger plates with a porcelain finish.
I use the term 'passenger' loosely because at the time the only other plate type
issued was Dealer. This plate pair is also at or near the high end of the
series for that year. This pair of plates is also part of the beveled-edge
series which included plates above 31000.
The other plate is an example of a plate in
the 30-thousand series which is just before the switch to the beveled edge.
These plates all measure 6 inches by 14
inches. The plate pair is a Worthpoint image, the single plate image is
thanks to Jordan Irazabal.
Here are two sequential pairs of
1926 Passenger plates. The serial sequence
went from single digit to 6 digit plates. Once the series hit 4 digits as
shown here, a dash separator was placed before the final group of 3 digits.
These plates measure 6 inches by 12 inches, although several other sizes were
used depending on the number of characters in the serial number. Thanks to
Mike Alfonse for the use of the photo.
Here is pair of
1934 Passenger plates. These were part of
Format 1 which included the serial sequence of 1 to 9999 on 6 by 10-inch plates,
and 10000 to 99999 on 6 by 12-inch plates as shown here. After this
initial series was exhausted, a variety of alpha numeric combinations were
issued. Click the link for more details. This plate pair belongs to
John Anshant.
8/15/2021 Posting
Bruce Bufalini dug out the plate photo
on the near left and noticed that it helps to narrow the point at which the Oldsmobile
Roadster graphic was removed and replaced with the redundant Antique Vehicle
legend. At some point later in the FJ, FK series, or the start of the FL
series the change occurred. The 4FJ6 plate was thanks to Ryan Battin.
Can anyone narrow the gap further?
This Antique Motorcycle
plate is not exactly a new high, but it is the highest plate spotted in the
01000 to 09999 series. This series has already moved into the next
format, that being 000A0, which was first seen in May of this year. This
plate was spotted at Das Awkscht Fescht in Macungie this past weekend.
Number 1 and low numbered plates have a
certain inherent appeal, and so it is with this Malvern Fire Company
plate. Thanks to John Clark for the photo. The Malvern plate program
dates back to 2008. Vanity check indicates only 11 serial numbered plates
have been issued.
This is a recent photo of a Rose Tree Fire
Company No. 1. They serve Upper Providence Township, near Media.
Plate check shows that they have 14 serial numbered plates registered. So
far the high spotted was 00009R/T, and all
still have stickers. Their plate program dates back to 2016. Thanks
to Will Stephens for the photo.
Here is a prefect image of a very low number
Korean
Defense Service Medal plate thanks to John Clark. These plates
date back to 2010. The current high on this series is 00199K/D.
The small quantity issued plus a relative high inventory, may result in plates
with the map outline never being issued.
This is a personalized U.S. Coast Guard
Veteran plate. This plate appears to be without the sticker well.
The USCG Veteran plate series dates back to 2009. The photo is thanks to
Brendan Sherry.
The photo of this unique serial number plate
was taken by Jordan Irazabal in early
July. It appears that this white on blue passenger series Official Use
series has finally transitioned to the
graphic base at
42000P/A.
Here is a link to the Vanity Pagewhere this and an
assortment of personalized plates are posted.
This Choose Life vanity,
courtesy of Arthur Levine, will be cross listed on the organizational plate
page.
Several other vanities are thanks to
Arthur Levine and Bill Ceravola.
It sure ain't pretty, but it's much closer
to the 1908 Passenger high of 25148 as listed by Eric Tanner. Most early
porcelain plates between 1906 and 1909 with the plate legend across the top of
the plate, measured 6½ inches high. This is a Worthpoint image.
This is a much nicer 1909 Passenger and may be a
new series high. It also tells a story that about 10,000 more vehicles
were registered in 1909 than the previous year. Like the plate above this
plate, this plate also measures 6½ by 10½ inches. This is also a Worthpoint image.
Well, it's a 1909 Passenger plate, but
what's with the leading zeros? After conferring with
Eric Tanner and Jordan Irazabal,
the consensus is that the plate was repainted, and in doing so, at least the
first number was repainted as a zero (0). It's likely that the original number
could have been a 3 which would have been easier to cover. This is also a Worthpoint image.
Here is a link to the
Vanity Page where these and an
assortment of personalized plates are posted each week.
Pennsylvania
began issuing plates for disabled or handicapped persons in 1966. Those
early plates used the prefix HP as the identifier. The HP was also used in
the suffix position. Eventually the HP and wheelchair symbol was replaced
by PD for Person with
Disability. I'm guessing this was in the mid-90s. Anyone
know for sure? The far left plates shown here would have been part of the
earliest PD series starting at PD00000 and extending to at least
PD31769 before the re-plating process began in 1999. The low number
plate is thanks to Tim Gierschick, and high number is from Worthpoint.
Here is a link to the
Vanity Page where these and an
assortment of personalized plates are posted each week. The
Penn State Alumni
Association plate will be cross-listed with the college organizational plate
page.
On
the far left is a pair of
1911 Passenger plates with a porcelain finish.
I use the term 'passenger' loosely because at the time the only other plate type
issued was Dealer. This plate pair is also at or near the high end of the
series for that year. This pair of plates is also part of the beveled-edge
series which included plates above 31000.
The other plate is an example of a plate in
the 30-thousand series which is just before the switch to the beveled edge.
These plates all measure 6 inches by 14
inches. The plate pair is a Worthpoint image, the single plate image is
thanks to Jordan Irazabal.
