If you want to decorate the walls of your garage, this big stash of vintage license plates might be right up your alley! The cost will be lower than a bunch of old signs and the end result will be just as cool – especially if you have any connection to Pennsylvania. This collection includes 76 plates, and the dates range from 1978 all the way back to 1906! The collection is located in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. Please look through the photo gallery below for close-ups of each plate. Post your questions in the comments section, and be sure to place your bids below!
Anything made over a hundred years ago is pretty old, especially so when dealing with license plates. The State of Pennsylvania issued its first plate in 1906. The automobile was still a novelty then, so it’s doubtful that very many of these early plates were even produced. Throw in a century to the equation, and you have a recipe for rarity! Two or three of the plates are duplicates, and one or two are missing in the run. 1906-1915 are porcelain and well-made. The seller will also include a run of Pennsylvania Inspection stickers from the first one. If you are interested in automobilia, this is a great find!
*Discounted Buyer Premium: 5% ($250 minimum)
Bid On This Auction
MichaelJ bid $2,501.00 2024-04-03 21:11:31
MikeyAAAAA4 bid $1,000.00 2024-04-02 20:43:15
Koi313 bid $850.00 2024-04-02 16:57:04
Kevin Hagstrom bid $450.00 2024-04-02 16:55:41
Jon Dega bid $350.00 2024-03-29 09:27:09
yeapea bid $250.00 2024-03-29 08:56:58
Nice collection, and I live in PA. I realize this will sell for more than a lot of cars here, however I don’t think that adding a $500. byers premium will help get bids on this IMHO.
5% is quite low compared to traditional auction houses, which routinely charge 20%-30% buyer’s premiums. That said, it’s a very cool lifetime collection, particularly for a Pennsylvanian.
A $500 byers premium is ridiculous.
The premium isn’t ridiculous when you consider what eBay or an auction house would charge to sell these. Regardless, we will cut the minimum fee in half ($250) as a gesture of goodwill. These are going to sell for more than you guys may think though. That 1906 plate alone is worth about a grand!
Ah, the annual ritual…standing in line every April (in Ohio) to get your issue or re-issue of plates. KNOWING how much money the temporary Deputy Registrar made off it – it was a political perk given to important supporters of whichever governor was in power at the time.
Get the plates home, hope there weren’t too many defects, and between March 15 (NOT BEFORE!) and April 30 (NOT AFTER!) hang the new plates on. Being CAREFUL not to just discard the old plates, which were still “valid” until April 30. With police lacking computers, it wasn’t hard to identify cars with fake plates on them.
And of course, there was ALWAYS the RUST issue – the metal screws and nuts. Nylon bolts or retaining plugs hadn’t been invented yet; but road salt sure was coming into being. So, with pliers, drill, Vice-Grips, and a six pack of beer, Dad would be out, struggling and swearing.
Sometimes owners would just bolt the new plates over the old ones, using the second set of holes. Sometimes the cops would stop owners to have a closer look when they did.
Ohio finally stopped annual issues in 1974. The plates were extended a year with a validation sticker – an experimental procedure; and then the 1976 plates were used for four years. Five years thereafter, until much more recently, where plates are apparently good indefinitely.
Annual renewal remained in April until the early 1980s – it took them that long to realize that the Deputy Registrar scheme was just annoying voters, and that twelve-month registrations made more sense. For several decades, it depended on your month of birth. I believe FINALLY they just went to, twelve months from first registration. Common sense seems completely absent in such settings – especially when politics are so much more profitable.
Nice collection. I basically gave away my father’s collection, 1963 to 2008, Ohio.
My stepdad had a very large leather book when we lived with him.(myself my brother my mom) By large I mean I was 7 years old and this book was taller than me. Anyway it was about a foot thick and 4’X3′ and full of Utah license plates. It even had one made out of wire welded to a rectangle metal frame. He said it was one of the first ever made here. Don’t remember the date of the first one dated but he had from what he said, every year up to the year we were there. He also had a 1930 model A. I am a twin and we used to stand on the running boards with white straw hats on during several parades. Was a real kick for a 7 year old kid. Sure would like to have the book and the car today although I think the book is probably worth more than the car because of availability of the two. Utah has had some pretty cool plates over the years. He also had some really old and cool firearms but that’s a another story.
No where I have found that it says the plates are open to be used as antique plates. Have they been checked against the website?
Doug,
The DMV of Pennsylvania states you can use antique plates on a classic vehicle, just as long as you are not using it for regular use. Check out these websites:
https://www.pacodeandbulletin.gov/Display/pacode?file=/secure/pacode/data/067/chapter67/chap67toc.html&d=reduce
https://www.dmv.pa.gov/VEHICLE-SERVICES/Registration%20Plates/Pages/Vintage.aspx
Pennsylvania and I believe Ohio allow use of year of manufacture license plates. I have PA 1940 on my Limo.
NH also
CT does too. I even have a used, actual British plate on my Jaguar and a D marked German late on our Mercedes (both period correct for the cars), no issues here.
Does Pa have the Year of Manufacture YOM law where correct plates can be put on year correct cars? These would be a Great Wall Art piece!
I live in PA., yes they do have the YOM law.
A fun project my company, DCL, did for Car Gurus HQ in Boston, MA
I’ve been buying and selling cars since I was 12, but the last 25 years I’ve been pulling all the plates from the “Barn find” cars and trucks and putting in box’s. I hope to line the walls of a shed some day before I die. They go back to 1922 Montana I think. Like the white House, I want my own PLATE ROOM.
This smacks of a bureaucratic nervana. I don’t care.
Pa. has year of Manuf. plates to be used as antique plates. BUT the number can not be in use for any other type of PA. plate, boat, trailer, etc. I have a ’14 plate with a number already being used by a Chevy dump truck. Makes my plate nothing but a wall hanger. There’s a website to check to see if plates are being used.
barn walls have all mine, every state (but: I’ll Ask Ya & How R Ya?).
Fav? 000 00 0000 (or some such) from GA 1979.
Garage/shop? none
Can come on from the auction contact me please??