If you associate car license plate collecting with a garage wall having a few rusty old examples nailed on it, you might be surprised to hear that this is a very active collecting field.

It is fueled by large numbers of serious collectors who gather at conventions and support a large, popular collectors’ organization. Its more than century-long history has produced an interesting variety of opportunities for collecting.

No one is quite sure when the first automobile license plates were made, but most experts agree that they were initially seen in Europe in the last decade of the 19th century. In the United States, before the existence of plates, drivers would register for and receive letters of authorization, which they were required to carry with them to operate automobiles. It soon became evident that there needed to be some obvious system for identifying irresponsible or illegal drivers and to regulate the rapidly expanding number of vehicles on the street.

New York was the first U.S. state to respond to this need. In 1901, legislation was passed requiring New York automobile owners to submit to the secretary of state their name, address, the make and horsepower of their vehicle and a registration fee of $1.

The plates of this period were either leather pads or flat metal plates with the owner’s initials—in 3- or 4-inch letters—dangling from them. From 1901 to 1903, there were only 954 New York registrations.

In 1906, Massachusetts issued a close approximation of the modern-looking plate. In that same year, West Virginia and Pennsylvania became the first states to issue dated license plates.

Around 1908, the Automobile Club of Southern California began issuing porcelain plates to its members, carrying the club’s identity, with blue numbers on a white background. Some early metal plates, known as “flats,” had their numbers stamped in paint on the face of the plate.

By 1909, license plates were in use throughout the United States, and in 1910 the system of annual plates was introduced. In the 1920s, most states were issuing embossed tin, steel or aluminum plates with the numbers die-stamped into them. When there were metal shortages during World War II, some states used a soybean-based fiberboard.

There are many opportunities to form specialized collections. One obvious starting point is seeking a license plate from every state; this can be made more of a challenge by looking for the earliest example available — the lower the number on the plate, the more valuable.

Lower number plates from Southern states are scarcer, and therefore more collectible than those from the Northeast. Other enthusiasts focus on plates from a certain year, while there are those who focus on truck or motorcycle IDs.

Early porcelain plates are in great demand — the last was issued by Delaware in 1942 — as are multicolored bicentennial plates and other special issues.

To learn more about this subject, check out the website of The Automobile License Plate Collectors Association — long the go-to source for news and information — at alpca.com

Some early porcelain plates — especially from the first year issued — can run as high as $500 in value. Steel plates with the aluminum ‘state seal’ attached can fetch $150. However, many run-of-the-mill examples can be acquired for less than $7 or $8, but there are some that command higher prices. Here are a few examples as reported in recent price guides:

1916 Washington porcelain plate — $275

1914 California porcelain plate, red and white, 4.5 inches by 16 inches — $165

1915 Pennsylvania tractor plate — $120

1932 South Carolina — $100

1935 Florida, with tab — $90

1933 Nevada, never used — $80

1940 Idaho, “50th Anniversary (1890-1940) — $75

1993 Florida, Super Bowl XXV — $75

1915 Vermont, white with black letters and numbers — $60

1914 Pennsylvania porcelain — $60

1942 Kansas, sunflower graphic — $50

Linda Rosenkrantz has edited Auction magazine and authored 18 books, including “Cool Names for Babies” and "The Baby Name Bible" (St. Martin's Press; www.babynamebible.com). She cannot answer letters personally. To find out more about Linda Rosenkrantz and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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