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Weekly Posts

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11/26/2023 Posting - Happy Thanksgiving!

The Plate of the Week award this week goes to Bill Young for this shot of a Lincoln University (Official Use) plate, the first time one has been observed on the "visitPA" base! This type came out in the 1990s on the blue base, then transitioned to the "www" base in 1999 which was in use until very recently. Numbering on the blue base started at L0000U, on the "www" base at L0500U, and numbering on the map outline base at L0700U. This also a new high! For all current highs, be sure to check out the Highs page!


Bill Stephens shares this picture of a personalized School Vehicle plate, a truly uncommon sight! These plates are typically issued to school-owned vans, while buses get "School Bus."


Three more highs for the week! This new Omnibus high comes from Ben Vaughn. This type started in 1926 with the "H" prefix, stopped after 1929, and began again in 1977 at OB-10000.


Next we have a new Apportioned high, coming from John McDevitt. This type began in 1982 at AA-00000. See the link for more history!


Lastly we have a new high for the Let Freedom Ring plate type from Richard Than. This type is classified by PennDOT as a "Special Fund" plate, which means that proceeds from the plate go towards a special state trust fund that is relevent to each type. Click here to see all of the Special Fund plates!


11/19/2023 Posting

John McDevitt noticed a new prototype plate on PennDOT's website, "Spay/Neuter Saves Lives." We will update you if and when this plate makes it into production!


John Clark sends in this picture of a Reading Buccaneers, Inc. plate, a type that is seldom spotted in the wild! This is a new high for this type as well. This plate came out in 2008, which means about 9 plates have been issued each year, on average. For all current highs, be sure to check out the Highs page!


Here's another high from John Clark, this time for the Bloomsburg University plate type. This type began on the blue base in 1992 at B/U 00001, numbering restarted at B/U 01200 on the "www" base, and again at B/U 01600 on the "visitPA" base. See the link for more info!


Mike Alfonse sends in this National Police Defense Foundation high. This is another plate type that is seldom spotted in the wild. It started in 2010 which means about 15 plates are issued each year, on average. Good spot!


Nick Tsilakis recently noticed that the separator for the School Bus type changed from a keystone to a dash. These two pictures (left from Bill Young, right from Nick Tsilakis) represent the highest keystone and lowest dash plate known to this website. A PennDOT warehouse report from November 2021 shows one order ending at SC-92299 and another starting at SC-92300, which may explain this change.


11/12/2023 Posting


Jeff Lesher sends in these pictures of early Passenger sample plates! Plate formatting was not as standardized back then as it is now (it's all relative...) so multiple serial formats are known for most years until the mid-1950s. Thanks for sharing, Jeff!


Brandon Sowers submits the picture of a Notary Public plate, which is a new high for the blue base. Numbering on this base started at N/P 00001 and then restarted at N/P 03000 on the "www" base of 1999.


This picture of a 1922 Tractor plate comes from Mike Alfonse. Plate numbers E 1 - E 999 did not have a dash separator, while E-1000 through the current high did. Link to history page coming soon!


Mike Alfonse also sends in this new high for the Gettysburg 1863 plate type. This plate falls under PennDOT's "Special Fund" umbrella, which means part of the proceeds from the sale of the plate go towards a special cause. In this case, "proceeds from this plate go directly to the Veteran Trust Fund and will support the cleaning, repair and restoration of the Pennsylvania monuments by the Gettysburg National Military Park." To order this plate, click here! For all current highs, be sure to check out the Highs page!


Mike's third submission this week is a new high for Lock Haven University. It's also the first Lock Haven plate spotted without the sticker well which means we will see the small map outline soon. Thanks, Mike, for three submissions this week!


11/5/2023 Posting

John McDevitt shares three bills that are currently pending: HB 73, providing for Operation Inherent Resolve veterans plate; HB 826, providing for special plates for recipients of Borinqueneers Congressional Gold Medal; and HB 1747, provides for motorcycle plates for more veteran types. We will update you if any of these become law.


The Plate of the Week Award goes to Richard Than for this shot of a personalized Philadelphia Centurions Motorcycle Club plate! This is the second picture captured of this type, and the first picture where all the text on the plate is legible. The other picture that was captured was 30001 P/C, so the current high is only at #1!


Matt Ciecka sends in this good picture of what's already the current high for the We The People plate. This plate came out in 1987 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the ratification of the Constitution. These plates were only issued from mid-September 1987 through December 31, 1987 but are still eligible for renewal.


Jane Sassaman sends in this picture of #26, a nice-looking low number. This is technically a personalized plate, and the history page is located on the Passenger page. Until about 1987, low numbers were generally under control of the Governor, with numbers 3-23 being reserved for members of the Governor's Cabinet. Today, anyone can get one provided that it's available as a personalized registration. To check available numbers, click here!


The last submission for this week is a new high for the New Car Dealer type from Jordan Irazabal. If you've been keeping up with the weekly updates on this site, you will know that all Dealer types were replaced starting in October 2022. That means that the old plates were required to be handed back in to PennDOT in exchange for the new plates. As of today, no redesigned Multi-Purpose Dealer plates or Farm Equipment Dealer plates have been issued. It should also be noted that the Fleet Transporter type is not considered by PennDOT to be a Dealer type and, accordingly, will not be part of the replacement. For all current highs, be sure to check out the Highs page!