The Plate of the Week Award goes to Brandon Sowers for this picture-perfect shot of a blue base Wilkes University Alumni. Up until now, this site did not have any such picture, so we are most grateful to Brandon for this excellent picture. This type came out in 1997 on the blue base and is still being issued (although it's still on the "www" base and has not transitioned to the "Family of Plates" design).

Here's another blue base plate, this one being Gettysburg College from John Clark. This plate type came out in 1999, transitioned to the "www" base in 2001, and then to the "Family of Plates" base in 2019, and has always had the rare 4-number format.

Here's an oddball sighting: a Pre-Owned Dealer plate way out of sequence. The current high is P/R 24206 so this is likely a personalized/vanity Pre-Owned Dealer plate.

John McDevitt shares that the existing PA Association of Realtors plate is transitioning to the "Family of Plates" style. This type started in 1995 on the blue base, transitioned to the "www" base in 2001, and has been on the "www" base ever since. This is not a high-volume type but the transition to the "Family of Plates" style likely means the supply of "www"-style plates is nearly exhausted.

Last but not least this week, we have an awesome trio of early Motorcycle plates from John Willard (pictures from John McDevitt). Motorcycle plates always have a fascinating history since they usually date as far back (or close) as Passenger plates, but way fewer motorcycles were on the road than passenger cars, plus Motorcycle plates were issued in singles whereas Passenger plates were generally issued in pairs in the early days, so early Motorcycle plates in collections are very difficult to get.

Brayden Harnish shares these images of three different Legislative plate types in PA: Representative (State), Senator (State), and Retired Legislator. The first two types use the district number as the plate number, whereas the third type is issued in sequence. Check out the Legislative & Judicial page to see more!

Here's another one from Brayden Harnish, this one a new high for the recently-redesigned Support Your Zoo plate type. This plate type started in 1996 as a full-size graphic background and transitioned to the "Family of Plates" style in 2013. The original design is widely considered one of the best plate designs of all time. For all current highs, be sure to check out the Highs page!

According to a posting shared by Eric Conner, State Representative Russ Diamond has fond memories of the 1976 Bicentennial and is looking forward to the upcoming America 250 celebration in 2026. He is a proud Pennsylvanian, but is not enamored with the current PA plate design. As such, he has introduced House Bill 2271 to create a throwback America 250 plate which borrows design elements from the past. Twenty-five dollars of the plate fee will help fund the America 250 celebration in Pennsylvania. The last action on this bill was that it was referred to the House Transportation Committee on May 7. The legislation, if passed, would authorize a plate like the one shown. Note there is already a Let Freedom Ring - 250 Years semiquincentennial registration plate with only a few hundred plates sold.

Gavin Gross shares this neat picture of a #1 plate for the Official Use - PA Turnpike (Commercial) type. Starting in 2017, the Official Use plate type started to break out into separate types. So far, there is PA Turnpike (Non-Commercial & Commercial), PennDOT (Non-Commercial & Commercial), and State Police (Car/SUV & Motorcycle). As with most Official Use plates, if the letter is in the beginning of the serial, it's Non-Commercial; if it's at the end, it's Commercial.

Last up this week, we have a nice 2-character 1934 Passenger plate from Tim Jumper. Back in these days, not all low numbers were reserved for VIPs. See the Passenger page for more info on the serial ranges.

NEW PLATES: PennDOT has been more proactive about publishing bulletins announcing new special organization plate types. Here are two recent bulletins: Bulletin 24-11 and Bulletin 24-12, both dated May 2024. These two bulletins collectively announce 16 new plate types but 13 have already been covered by this website. The three remaining are Down Syndrome Association of Pittsburgh, Elle’s Angels Foundation, and Angel Flight East. As of this weekly update, none of these three types have active plates. Thanks to John McDevitt for the heads-up on both bulletins!

Bruce Bufalini shares this new high for the Vietnam War Veteran plate type. This plate type started in 1999 on the white base and transitioned to the "Family of Plates" style in 2014. For all current highs, be sure to check out the Highs page!

Next up, we have a 4-digit 1908 Passenger plate from Jeff Lesher that's printed on the size that a 5-digit number normally would be printed on. It's thought that these were mostly for replacement plates. These plates are very uncommon to find but not impossible. The 5-digit plate, for comparison, comes from Don Bucchi.

Here's another new high, this time from John Sutliff, for the Preserve Our Heritage type. This is the only plate that's still being issued with a full graphic background, and it's expected that this type will transition to the "Family of Plates" style after R/R 9Z99 is reached.

Finally we have a low-number vanity plate, #40. Vanity plates can be found on the Passenger page under their respective years. Thanks to Joshua Lutz for the picture!

LEGISLATION UPDATE: Senate Bill 916 proposes the creation of a Sportsman license plate. If this plate comes to fruition, it will likely fall under the Special Fund category, which means a portion of each purchase is put towards a special state trust fund for the benefit of whatever the plate type is supporting. You can see any plate-related legislation news at the Legislation page, linked here. Click here to read more about Senate Bill 916.

John McDevitt reports that two new plates are on the way: Fairfield Hose Company and LVHN MedEvac. Stay tuned for more infomation on these plates as they begin to be spotted in the wild.

Brendan Sherry shares this picture of a West Chester University plate, the first image on this website of this type with the map outline graphic in place of the sticker well. This type came out in 2005, starting at W/C 20001, which means that about 26 plates are issued per year.

Here's (left, from Devan Ciemiewicz) what appears to be a test or prototype plate for the various plates that had a white backgound. What is interesting is that all of the white-background plate types that made it to production had "PENNSYLVANIA" on the bottom, not the top, which this test/prototype shows. The picture on the right (from Tom Perri) is one such plate type that used a white background.

Last but not least, we have a new high for the National Constitution Center plate type, compliments of John Clark. This type came out 17 years ago, and number 17 is the current high so you can see how rare these are! For all current highs, be sure to check out the Highs page!