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July 3, 2023

ALPCA Treasure! 1915 Ingram-Richardson Manufacturing Company Porcelain Plate
At the 2023 ALPCA license plate convention in Denver this year, our friend, Chris Fretta, found a real treasure…in the early 1900s,  license plates were made with steel bases covered with porcelain to assure their long life…one of the most well-known manufacturers was the Ingram-Richardson Manufacturing Company…as seen on the 1915 California plate’s backside, their company […] read more

EUREKA!…GOLD FROM ALASKA!
Patience is a virtue, but sometimes good luck plays a role as well…at the 2023 ALPCA convention in Denver this week, we were happy to meet up with Eric Tanner, the current Editor of PLATES magazine (yes, we have our own license plate collectors’ magazine!)…in previous issues, Eric had done a few articles mentioning the DC license […] read more
January 10, 2023

Cheers to Jack, The Village Pub & 150 Wisconsin License Plates
With a beautiful morning sunrise as my guide, east-bound to Vero Beach was a pleasant journey, for sure…particularly as a complete collection of 150 Wisconsin license plates awaited my arrival at the home of Jack Lucas, former owner and barkeep of the Village Pump in Solon Springs, Wisconsin…while we can’t attest to the cuisine at […] read more
July 19, 2022

ALPCA License Plate Collectors Convention – Hampton, VA
…we made it!!…what’s another 750 mile joy ride with the Plate Princess to wheel and deal more license plates?!…the annual ALPCA license plate collectors convention this year is in Hampton, VA…so we loaded up about 10,000 license plates in Lakeland Sunday morning and made it here in time for dinner last night!…I keep reminding her […] read more
June 21, 2022

Going The Distance To “Stop By” For License Plates
…a few days ago we got an email from a gentleman who wanted to know if he could ‘stop by’ and pick up a few plates on the drive he and his wife were making from St. Augustine to St. Petersburg…apparently they were vacationing from Ireland (again!) and wanted to add to the collection of […] read more
June 7, 2022

The Dan Smith Taxi Cab License Plates Collection
In early April, as Spring was springing and we were shaking off some of the Covid-crazies, we received an email from Cynthia Kindgren in Rockford, Illinois…she asked if we’d be interested in her recently-deceased brother’s collection of taxi cab license plates…over the years we’ve had several folks describe their available collections to us, including military, […] read more

License Plates to Memorialize Important Dates
We recently provided Linda Speetzen with a 1940 California plate to complete her family’s game room decorations…she, her husband, and their two sons each have a license plate mounted from the state in which they were born and their year of birth…all celebrate California except the younger son, born in Schenectady, NY!…while the older son […] read more
May 23, 2022

Italy and Malta License Plate
…on our recent plate excursion to Italy and Malta, we not only enjoyed the beautiful Greek and Roman heritage sites, we saw LOTS of plates!…including the 111 and the 888 on May 18th…note the new plate size, the police plate, and even a taxi cab plate on a horse drawn carriage ( we only walked […] read more
March 15, 2022

License Plates To Estoinia
Over the years we’ve been fortunate to ‘electronically’ meet some very nice plate collectors around the world…one such gentleman is Margus K., President of the Official Corvette Club of Estonia!…not only does Margus love Corvettes, he is an avid plate enthusiast as well…just witness his garage wall in Estonia!…in these troubling times Margus can still […] read more
March 7, 2022

ALPCA Tennessee Show
Dolly Parton didn’t make it, but about 100 other serious plate collectors did…Ray Mauer from Kentucky and Cyndi McCabe (ALPCA President) had a chance to visit, while others simply wanted to troll the goods!…a well-run event on a beautiful weekend, with incredibly delicious homemade food provided by the local women’s auxiliary raised high school scholarship […] read more

Presidential License Plate? The License Plate Detectives on the Case!
Several years ago my wife and I attended an auction in Maine, at which a number of license plate collections were being offered…among other plates that caught our (my) eye was a DC porcelain #20047 alleged to have been solicited from and donated by President Woodrow Wilson to a high school class in the early […] read more
November 30, 2021

Marking Important Dates with License Plates
…one of our previous GAP BBs highlighted the Houghtlin Family license plate collection mounted on the porch rafter of their NC cabin…each member has a birth state and date plate of their own…and with the birth of Jack George Curtis, the family bumper now hosts 11 plates!…what a great tradition Mark and Chrisann have continued…we’re […] read more