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?
٠ Click
thumbnail images to enlarge ٠ Click links to go to plate galleries
New organizational plate types,
especially from colleges, seems to have almost stopped, then
Williamson College of the Trades decided to get into the game.
They are located near Media, PA. Plate check indicates that they have
10 serial numbered plates on the street. The sample photo came from
their website.
Here's the latest Passenger high as
reported by Tom Castelli. Although Bill Stephens reports LYP-7800, no
photo.
Keep up to date with all the latest
highs with the Highs page.
Some plate watchers are wondering when
the Passenger MBA- series will hit the street.
This is a personalized Combat Action
Badge plate recently spotted by Jeff Lesher. Not going to
guess the meaning. This plate is part of a series of 5 combat-related
plates dating back to 2014 all using the C/O suffix. Newer plates have
the map outline.
The far left photo shows a personalized
U.S.
Military Airborne Units plate. The photo is thanks to Arthur
Levine.
The near left plate may look like a
normal serial number U.S. Marine
Corps Veteran plate but it's actually a personalized plate since the
current high is 14243M/C. The photo
is thanks to Bruce Bufalini.
Here's another from the Combat Action
series, this one being a Combat Action
Ribbon plate. While it's not a new high, it does help lower
the starting point for the map outline. Thanks to Drew Steitz for the
photo.
Here is a new high Rosedale
Technical College, formerly Rosedale Technical Institute. This
plate is the first to be spotted without a sticker well. The image is
thanks to Bruce Bufalini.
Here's a brand new
Porsche Club of America plate. This plate type dates back to
2002, and a few years later when some organizations made the transition to
the graphic style plate on the visitPA base, the Porsche Club choose to stay
with the original design.
Here is a very nice low number 1955 Motorcycle
plate. Thanks to Drew Steitz for the photo. That year saw two
serial formats, 1 to 9999, followed by A to S38.
Here is an extraordinarily nice 1954 Passenger plate
from Michael Vislocky. This plate was from a late end of year run and
was part of what I call Format 14 which ran from D00A0 to M51B7.
Plates measured 6" x 10¼".
This is an unusual 1936 Official Use Only plate. These plates were
part of a block of passenger series of numbers from 31-001 to 32-000.
Unlike 6" by 12" passenger plates, these plates measure 6" by 15".
Thanks to Clayton Moore for the photo.
This very rare 1917 Tractor Dealer
plate was recently acquired by Clayton Moore. Quite a find Clayton!
The TX prefix indicated Tractor Dealer and was used from 1916 through 1930.
A photo of TX12 is also shown by clicking the link above.
Photos or information about Tractor
Dealer plates from 1920, 1921, 1923, 1927 and 1929 are needed. Also photos and
information from 1931 to the early 1950s is almost non-existent.
5/15/2022 Posting
First of its kind!
Arthur Levine spotted this never-before-seen
Presidential Service Badge plate. These came about through
legislation which amended the vehicle code in February of 2019. This
tag is considered a veterans' plate. Qualified individuals can
purchase using form MV-150. Several other plates were authorized at
the same time, with no plates spotted to date. These include
Legion of Merit
and Soldier’s Medal.
Also
Veterans of an Allied Foreign Country with one personalized plate
spotted.
We've seen a steady stream of new high
School Bus plates over the
past month. This latest is thanks to Bill Young.
Here's a new high Limousine plate.
The previous high was LM-31017.
This new high Motor Home plate
from Bill Stephens. The serial number took quite a jump from the
previous high. It's also nearing the end of the HH series. The
next series will be HJ-00000. Trivia question: Do you recall
the original prefix of the first series of such plates? Answer:
It was HC which stood for House Car, later changed to Motor Home around
HD-42000.
Here is the lowest number
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. plate spotted so far, thanks to
Bill Young. On the other end of the spectrum, the high is 00253D/S.
Certainly not one you see every day.
This
Marshall University Alumni plate was spotted by Nick Tsilakis.
Marshall is located in Huntington, WV. The series high on the plate is
00030M/U.
You would not expect to see a
personalized School Vehicle plate as spotted by Bill Stephens. Legal?
Absolutely, many plate types are now available to be personalized.
Some others include Taxi, Commercial Implement of Husbandry, Implement of
Husbandry, Farm Truck, Hearing Impaired, Press Photographer, Apportioned
Truck (<14,000 lb.), and all 11 Dealer types, and Emergency Vehicle to
name some. Also Antique, Classic, etc.
Want to see more vanities & personalized plates?
Check out this week's photos on the
Vanity
Page.
While this is not quite a new high, it
is an interesting number. The Preserve Our Heritage -
Railroad plate dates back to 1988, and is the only remaining full
graphic PA plate. It still retains the sticker well, and is not
available for personalization. Thanks to Chris Delbuono for the image.
This early Antique Motorcycle
plate is an example of the last series of plates with the narrow bolt holes.
It is unknown if this serial progression extended into L00, M00 or N00 series.
Photo from Worthpoint. Anyone have a plate or a photo from those
series?
This Antique Motorcycle
plate is an example of the first series of plates with the wide bolt holes.
And similar to the question above, we don't know at what point the previous
series ended, and therefore, we don't know where this series began.
Photo from Worthpoint.
5/8/2022 Posting
I want to note that there has been such a strong response to tracking highs,
that it has been a challenge to post them all. At the same time Jordan is
listing them on the new highs page.
If it were your choice, which would you
choose? Personally I like the older pre-family of plates look for
Severely Disabled Veteran
tag. It has a more patriotic look in my opinion. Anyway, there is
no choice, since late 2021 all
Severely Disabled Veteran
plates will have the new look. The far left plate credit goes to Bruce
Bufalini, new plate is thanks to Brandon Sowers. (It may be worth
mentioning that those few vehicles using double plates due to a device on the
rear of the vehicle for carrying a wheelchair or personal assistive device are
authorized to use two plates that are still coming from the older series.)
Here is a new high Combat Wounded Veteran
or Purple Heart plate, now with the map outline. The previous high was
P/H10472 which had no sticker well. These
plates are ordered in batches of 100, so the addition of the map could have been
at 10500, 10600 or 10700. Thanks to Matt Ciecka for the photo.
Here's a great shot of a new high
Apportioned Truck plate.
Thanks to Bill Young for the photo.
Here is a new high Truck plate that has
been added this week, also updated on the Highs Page.
Thanks to Bill Young for the video capture.
And another new high Dealer which took a
jump from the previous high of K46-144K, also updated on the Highs Page. This plate was
spotted by Jordan Irazabal
on Ferrari Philadelphia's Instagram page.
One more high. Matt Ciecka recently
spotted this Person with
Disability. This new serial format was first seen in February of
this year.
This is a new high National Ski
Patrol plate which was spotted by John Fedorchak. It reads
00287S/P. These plates have been using the map outline since at
least as far back as 00247S/P. The plate
type itself dates back to 2011.
Want to see more vanities & personalized plates?
Check out this week's photos on the
Vanity
Page.
This colorful tag is a prototype plate that
was apparently intended to be the next edition of Fire Department
plates. The original FD plates came out in 1968, but they were never
issued on the base shown here which I'm guessing could be an '84 or '85 base.
My personal recollection of a fire department I belong to, and which didn't
begin operations until 1978, was that for several years all the trucks had FD plates. Based
on this, I'm thinking FD plates were issued up to around '84 or '85, at which
point Emergency Vehicle plates were issued to fire department vehicles.
Then any remaining FD plates were replaced by Emergency Vehicle tags in 2007.
Here's a very nice low number 1971 Tractor plate
with a 72 sticker. The tag was recently acquired by Tim Gierschick.
The 1971 to '76 run was the first to use the TR prefix, although it was used
again on the 1977 issue. The series high is TR-50998.
Some great Truck plates this week, starting
with this 1934 Class S with
SA000 format. I had not documented this format previously, only listing
S000A, S00A0 and S0A00. Therefore, this plate may be considered a new high.
Thank you Brandon Sowers for the photo.
Next up is this 1955 VZ-Class Truck plate.
If you are familiar with PA truck plate history, you know that two-axle trucks
were issued plates from the R through Z series. And three-axle trucks were issued plates from the RZ to ZZ series.
Not as many
of these 2-letter prefix plates were issued and even fewer have survived.
This plate measures 6" by x 10¼". Clayton Moore snagged this great
example.
But wait there's more, including this 1956 VZ-Class with an identical
serial number as the '55 above. Again this is a very rare three-axle
plate. 1956 saw plate sizes standardized to 6" by 12". Again thanks
to Clayton Moore for sharing this fine example.
The far left 1964 - 66 VZ-Class Truck
plate photo is thanks to Jeff Lesher and was previously displayed, the near left
plate is a newly acquired plate of Clayton Moore. They both represent the
period from 1964 to 1967. The VZ0-65A appears to be a new high, with the A
suffix suggesting that few such plates were issued. Again thanks to
Clayton Moore for sharing this example.
5/1/2022 Posting
Please note, if you are sending new highs to
this website, please send to both
or post them to Keystone State Plates on Facebook.
New highs that are shown on this homepage,
are also on the
HIGHS
page, and generally on the history pages.
Here is a new high Bus plate recently
spotted by Bill Young. These plates have been using the map outline since
BA-81900. Click this link to see more Bus plate history dating
back to 1924.
This is a new high Truck plate from Bill
Young. The plate number reads ZTX-4263. The map outline was added at ZKJ-0000.
Click this link to see more Truck plate
history dating back to 1914.
This Preserve Our Heritage or Railroad plate
is another new high. It's part of the 4th serial progression. This
Special Fund plate dates back
to December of 1998 and is the only remaining full-graphic plate. This
photo is thanks to Jordan Irazabal.
Here is a new high within the group of Dealer plates still
retaining the sticker well. The lowest point without the sticker well is
K46-673K. We also know that based on a warehouse inventory report that
the plate run from the batch shown here ended at K46-499K, with a new batch starting
at K46-500K. Thanks to Jordan Irazabal for the photo.
Bill young spotted a new School Bus high on the bus
with SC-89662.
Then later he also spotted SC-89773. So we have two new highs in the same
week.
On 4/17 we posted a photo of Abington Fire Company
00006A/T, the plate shown here was supplied by
Bob Connison, and is the low number. The photo-documented high for this
series is 00027A/T, and the registered high is
00028A/T.
This is a Harley Owners
Group vanity plate spotted by Bob Connison. Such plates can have
up to 5 characters plus the H/D prefix. This plate does have the map
outline.
Here is a personalized U.S.
Submarine Veterans, Inc. plate. While this may appear to be a
Military Veterans' plate, it is actually an organizational plate. This
plate type dates back to 2005. Thanks to Bruce Bufalini for the photo.
Here is a low-number Press Photographer
plate from Julian Marrero. It has been my understanding that such plates
were always issued sequentially and that traditionally the series began at
PP10, although a couple older plates were issued with PP4. In the case of
these modern plates with numbers like, 3, 7, and the letter I, they are believed
to be personalized. The plate shown here also has the map outline.
One unique feature about PP plates is that they never used an identifying legend
such as Press or Photographer.
Want more vanities / personalized plates?
Check out this week's photos on the
Vanity
Page.
Here is a 3-digit 1923 Motorcycle plate.
1- to 3-digit plates measured 4½ inches by 6 inches, while 4- and 5-digit plates
measured 4½ inches by 8 inches. Anyone have a 1- or 2-digit plate?
The series high is believed to be 19786. Thanks to Clayton Moore for the
photo.
This is a 1926 Motorcycle plate.
Like the '23 plate above, these were also made in 2 sizes depending on the number
of digits. Does anyone have a 1-, 2- or 3-digit plate? Thanks to
Clayton Moore for the photo.
4/24/2022 Posting
This past week has been another challenging
one for me, spending much of it in the hospital. So this will be a short
update. Also I know this website has been down part of the time.
Jordan Irazabal is in the process of moving the site to another hosting service.
Stay tuned.
Here is a brand new Classic Vehicle plate
photo from Clayton Moore. The latest change to these plates has been the
addition of the map outline back at C40900. To qualify for such a plate,
the vehicle must be at least 15 years old, maintained in original or restored
condition. The vehicle is no longer subject to
emissions inspection.
Here's a new high Official Use plate
thanks to Brandon Sowers. This is part of the non-passenger series
and the serial number is a continuation of the old white on blue fully embossed plates. Note
there are also agency specific Official Use plates for
PennDOT,
PA State
Police and
PA Turnpike, all of which use their own agency logo and number series as
opposed to the generic commonwealth coat of arms on the plate shown here.
Here's a recent Amateur Radio plate
photo from Jordan Irazabal. Such plates date back to 1956 and can have A,
K, N or W as the call letter prefix. The number 3 indicated the region
which includes Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware. Click this link to see
more Ham Radio
info.
This is a Trailer Vanity, kind
of rare, and indistinguishable from a passenger vanity. Of course the give
away is that it's on a trailer. Vanities are also available for motor
homes, and trucks with a registered gross weight of 14,000 pounds or less.
Personalized plates are also eligible for motorcycles, certain commercial
vehicles and certain special organizational tags. This photo is thanks to
Julian Marrero and was forwarded by Jordan Irazabal.
Want more vanities? Arthur Levine has
provided a dozen new vanity plate shots. Check 'em out on the
Vanity
Page.
This is a low number 1930 Class R Truck plate.
1930 truck plates saw a departure from the much more common R through ZZ weight
classes that was used before and after the 1930 run. Apparently it fell
out of favor and returned to R - ZZ system in later years. Anyway, for
1930, R-class plates were designated by 00AA to 999FZ, making this a low-number
plate. Thanks to Clayton Moore for the photo.
Here is a nice example of a low-numbered 1953 Format 13 Passenger
plate. Format 13 was an overflow series using D000A to P999Z. The
reason for starting at D000A was that the A000A, B000A and C000A series were
reserved for three Dealer types. Also going beyond the P999Z series would
have encroached on the truck series. Thanks to Clayton Moore for the
image.
On
the far left is a new high on the
Commonwealth Coat of Arms
Passenger base, to the right of that is a new high screen shot of a
PennDOT Commercial
Vehicle plate. Thanks to Jay Embee and to Bill Young for the
photos.
Bill young spotted a new
School Bus high on the bus
with SC-89662.
Then later he also spotted SC-89773. So we have two new highs in the same
week.
