Collecting Old License Plates

02/07/2023

Looking forward to the New Britain, CT ALPCA Meet on Saturday, February 11.

8 AM at 41 Veterans Drive New Britain, CT 06050

http://www.alpcacolonial.org

See you there?

Koby Vinokor
516-353-2440

10/15/2022

My keeper from the Hershey, PA Antique Automobile Club of America car show and swap meet was this lovely original paint 1906 Cincinnati Ohio.

I’m always buying early license plates - call me!

Koby Vinokor
516-353-2440
Hindsight Antiques

10/03/2022

Off to Hershey, PA in the morning!

Have early tags for sale?

Call me!

Koby Vinokor 516-353-2440

09/28/2022

Michigan bound looking to score some early license plates…

09/09/2022

I was absolutely thrilled to add this 1906 St. Louis, Missouri porcelain license plate to my collection from the recent Lee Roy Hartung auction sold by Donley Auctions - Northern Illinois!

Even Fox News Fox2Now was excited for me -

https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/rare-st-louis-license-plate-sells-for-8500-at-auction/

Have any early license plates for sale? I would love to hear from you!

Koby Vinokor
516-353-2440

Hindsight Antiques

08/23/2022

I am extremely pleased with how well this 1910 South Dakota prestate license plate cleaned up! I purchased this plate in an eBay auction in July. The plate was absolutely filthy when it got to me and I’ve spent a lot of time carefully cleaning it up. A before cleaning photo can be seen in the comments below.

The construction of the plate is awesome - 2 leather pads sewn together with 2 different sized tack rivets used to spell out the number and state designation. The cleaning process was extremely time consuming due to the fragile nature of the plate and the delicate fastening of the rivets.

According to the South Dakota Historical Society records, #7485 was issued on September 29, 1910 to E.H. Wampler in Hecla, SD for use on a 10 Horsepower Cadillac. In 1910, Hecla - a rural border town with North Dakota - had a population of 462. As of 2020, Hecla is home to 162 people. The South Dakota prestate era began on May 4, 1905 and lasted until July 1, 1913.

In terms of provenance, my initial research tells me that this plate came into the hobby in the early 1950’s, likely acquired in the rough through extensive advertising by Tony Shupienus (ALPCA #369). Clarence Titus (ALPCA #50) purchased Tony’s collection in the late 1950’s. Vernon Streiffert (ALPCA #269) purchased Clarence’s collection in the mid 1960’s. In late 1971, Lee Roy Hartung (ALPCA #3003) obtained Vernon’s collection. The plate collected dust in Lee Roy’s cluttered warehouse until being sold by RM Auctions in 2011. The buyer of the plate held onto it (and another South Dakota leather) until auctioning both on eBay last month.

I am always looking to purchase or trade for early license plates to add to my collection!

Koby Vinokor
ALPCA #11725
516-353-2440

08/23/2022

Lee and Penny Anderson’s dedication to correctly restoring this 1932 Duesenberg with its original parts that had been split up decades ago is a testament to provenance and preservation - something we as collectors can certainly appreciate.

Congratulations to a well deserved Best of Show win at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

Chassis and body were separated for decades, but this 1932 Duesenberg J Figoni Sports Torpedo is whole once more—and a champion to boot.

08/23/2022

I would love to trade this 1938 Texas “2 Star” #6 towards or for a Texas prestate. Please reach out if you can help with that.

08/21/2022

Superb 1914 Pennsylvania #20….

Thank you for the trade, Jeff Leider! I love it.

Jeff Lesher - now we can reunite the pair??

I’m always buying and trading for early license plates!

Koby Vinokor
ALPCA #11725
516-353-2440

08/19/2022

Fabulous recent trade acquisition - I missed a shot at this 1913 - 1914 Muskogee, Oklahoma porcelain license plate in 2015. I stalked it for 7 years and then pounced when the right trade opportunity came along!

Koby Vinokor
516-353-2440
ALPCA #11725

08/12/2022

Great trade acquisition - 1912 Wichita, Kansas porcelain pre state. I sold #898 to Nathan Edward Kuehn a couple years back when doing some “shuffling”. I’m very happy to add one to the wall this time! Thank you for the trade Charles Westphal!

Koby Vinokor
ALPCA #11725
516-353-2440

08/09/2022

Major glow up on this 1915-1916 Jacksonville, Florida license plate. I picked this plate up in a trade at the Hampton, VA ALPCA Convention. The left side of the plate had a considerable amount of damage underneath the dirt. Overall, I’m ecstatic with how nicely the yellow background came out.

Koby Vinokor
ALPCA #11725
516-353-2440

07/31/2022

Unpacking from the Hampton, VA ALPCA Convention continues...

I was very happy to trade for this 5 year set of Vermont porcelain license plates dating from 1911 through 1915.

Koby Vinokor
ALPCA #11725
516-353-2440

07/29/2022

As fake license plates continue to plague our beloved hobby, I’ve made it a point to work towards documenting provenance for each license plate in my collection. This has proven to be challenging and quite interesting.

In early April, I was very fortunate to obtain a first issue 1912 Mississippi plate from David Sampugnaro (ALPCA #3610). With 10 known examples I was very excited to snag one with some original paint. It was quite easy to trace past ownership in ALPCA circles backwards for such a significant plate.

Dave sold it on behalf of Roy Rich’s family (ALPCA #2568). Roy purchased it from Corb Moister (ALPCA #919) in 2014. And Corb had purchased it from Conrad Hughson (ALPCA #290) in 2013. When I reached out to Conrad for further history he mentioned that it would be better to tell me about it in person.

We were finally able to link up for an hour or so at the Hampton, VA ALPCA License Plate Convention where he confirmed that he actually bought the plate straight out of the rough from a woman who brokered a deal in McComb, Mississippi in 1988. In fact, he still had a good portion of the original correspondence from chasing the lead which he passed along to me! Talk about provenance!

From the letters I gathered that the plate surfaced inside of a wall of a burned down store between Benton and Yazoo City, MS in August 1987. A woman named Paula responded to Conrad’s advertisement in the Holmes County Herald in Lexington, MS looking for old license plates in January 1988! Paula ended up brokering a deal between her neighbor who found the plate in the burned down store and Conrad.

One of the notes mentioned that when the tag was found amongst the rubble of the store, it was along side a photograph of it in use on a car! Supposedly the photograph was sold separately and then donated to a local historical society. Now I am going to try to track down the photograph starting with any historical societies or museums that I can find in the area of Yazoo City, McComb, and Benton, MS.

Wish me luck!

Koby Vinokor
516-353-2440
ALPCA #11725

07/28/2022

Very pleased to upgrade my 1914 North Carolina to “EX”. Thank you to Will Quiring! My downgrade #11073 is “VG” and now available.

Koby Vinokor
ALPCA #11725
516-353-2440

07/25/2022

Home from a very successful ALPCA convention in Hampton, VA and slowly unpacking my haul.

I was fortunate to upgrade my 1913 Maryland to “EX”. My downgrade has been sold.

Koby Vinokor
516-353-2440

07/22/2022

Lovely 1911 Minnesota acquired via trade yesterday. The gloss on this tag is stunning and of course I like that it is a 3 digit. My EX “downgrade” will be available.

Koby Vinokor
ALPCA #11725
516-353-2440

07/20/2022

I am very pleased with my new 1914 Alabama porcelain license plate courtesy of Corb Moister (ALPCA #919).

My downgrade will be available on the convention floor tomorrow morning in Hampton, VA!

Have early tags for sale? Call me!

Koby Vinokor
ALPCA #11725
516-353-2440

07/19/2022

My first keeper of the Hampton, VA ALPCA Convention….. 1906 Iowa Leather Prestate License Plate #2261.

Have early tags for sale? Call me!

Koby Vinokor
ALPCA #11725
516-353-2440

07/18/2022

Happily married, home from Maui, and now heading off to the annual ALPCA license plate convention in Hampton, VA.

I will be spending the week diligently searching for new additions to my collection. I can’t wait to show you what treasures I come up with.

Koby Vinokor
ALPCA #11725

06/28/2022

I acquired this #88 1911 North Dakota license plate from Corb Moister’s sell off in early 2021 and picked it up from him at the Covington, KY ALPCA Convention.

1911 was the first year of issue for North Dakota license plates making this the 88th plate from the state. At one time, the pair of #88’s was split up by early ALPCA members. Former owners of this half include Jim Fox, Conrad Hughson, and Corb Moister - 3 ALPCA Hall of Fame Members.

The other half of the pair resides in Florida with Steve Raiche. Hopefully some day I’ll be able to reunite the set.

Koby Vinokor
ALPCA #11725
516-353-2440

06/04/2022

I acquired this 1913 Arkansas Porcelain License Plate in January 2021. As soon as it was offered to me I knew it had to be mine. Being in “EX” condition with a 2 digit number, it really checked all of the right boxes. It was offered by Conrad Hughson (ALPCA #290) as being available “for trade only”. I knew it wouldn’t last long.

The deal took a few days to iron out and ended up as a complex 3 way trade between myself, Charles Westphal (ALPCA #2541) and Conrad.

1. Chuck gave up 1901 New York prestate initial plate “ACB” to Conrad.
2. I gave up a 1901 New York prestate initial plate “HWL” in lesser condition than “ACB” to Chuck as a “replacement”.
3. I also gave Chuck an “I owe you one” favor, which he cashed in with me on a later trade!
4. Conrad sent Chuck a VG 1911-1912 Volusia, Florida #62.
5. I sent Conrad an EX New Hampshire 1915 oval plate #35 that I had gotten in trade from Matt Black of Dumb Luck Mantiques and Collectibles just a few weeks earlier.
6. And finally, Conrad sent me the 1913 Arkansas #95. Plus I kicked Conrad a few Benjamin’s.

In the end, everyone was happy with their new acquisitions, and a little bummed about what they had to give up - the mark of a successful trade!

Koby Vinokor
516-353-2440
ALPCA #11725

06/03/2022

Another day, another plate, another story!

This United States Department of the Interior National Park Service porcelain license plate #10156 is one of three styles of NPS porcelain license plates. These are thought to date from the late 1920’s to mid 1930’s. They are quite popular for obvious reasons and in many ways transcend the license plate collecting hobby. They can frequently be found held by collectors of green and white porcelain signs that were used in United States national parks, and forests.

#10156 turned up at the Valley Forge, PA ALPCA Convention in July 2018. Supposedly it was scarfed up for a steal after just minutes of being on a table. It passed through a few hands and ended up with Roger Monfett (ALPCA #8864). I was able to purchase it from Roger just seconds after he laid it on his table at Chuck Westphal’s Independent Show in Lake Panasoffkee, FL in November 2019.

While it’s always “easy” to buy plates on eBay or Facebook, this is a great example of why it’s still important to get out and attend local and national shows. You never know what may show up! I hope to see many of you at the ALPCA Convention in Hampton, VA in just 47 days!

Have any early or unique license plates for sale? Let me know!

Koby Vinokor
516-353-2440
ALPCA #11725

06/02/2022

Although every license plate has a backstory, not every license plate deal is that interesting. Sometimes all it takes to add to my collection is inputting a credit card into eBay and clicking “buy it now”. Of course I find that to be less fun! Here is another set of tags from my collection and how they ended up with me...

I began seriously collecting around 2012 and quickly found myself working towards completing a New York passenger run. For any non collectors reading, that means one plate per year from the first state issue (1910) to current. Naturally, I was doing pretty well checking years off and was left with 1910 being missing. In early 2013 I met Marco Tramelli - a great New York collector and the host of ALPCA’s Long Island meet (along with Steve Benson).

After some convincing, Marco agreed to sell me 1910 #28999 which was sort of a duplicate for him. I always loved the “999” portion of the plate. The plate was in nice shape with blue background paint that often fades. The only issue with the plate was that someone had trimmed about a 1/2” of metal off around the entire plate. This bothered me a bit but I was just happy to have a first issue. I paid Marco $100 for it.

Fast forward a year or so and I was able to upgrade #28999 to an example that wasn’t trimmed down. #28999 went into my for sale box and I remember having it out at one or two local ALPCA meets. In 2014 I headed off to school at The University of Illinois and my duplicates just sat in a box at my parent’s home on Long Island.

In February 2015, Chuck Westphal and I were swapping photos of New York prestate license plates in our collections and my eyes immediately focused in on a prestate in his display case. It was a painted leather 1906 prestate #28999! In an excited panic, I called my dad to go look if I still had the first issue with the matching number sitting in a box in the garage. He confirmed that I did. I became intensely focused on reuniting this “pair”. The only problem was that Chuck had owned his plate for over 35 years and really had no interest in getting rid of it! He fed me the classic line “trade me something for it”.

It took me 3 years to find something worthy of a trade with Chuck. In March 2018 I acquired 1917 Pasco County, Florida #18 from a local picker in Florida. The picker had found the tag inside an envelope at an estate sale! I paid the picker $500 for the Florida tag. Chuck was hooked and we both agreed that the Pasco was worth more than $500. I ended up trading him the Pasco for the leather NY #28999 and $500. After a few years of pursuit, I was finally able to reunite the #28999 set with just a net of $100 spent (and a lot of time and energy).

As far as I am aware, the #28999 combo is the only surviving example in collector hands of a New York prestate license plate and first issue that share the same number over the transition period. This likely stems from the difficulty of retaining a registration number from the pre state era. Most motorists did not care enough to jump through the hoops that the Motor Vehicle Department set up and instead opted to have a new plate number issued in 1910. After all no one thought there would be someone 100+ years later collecting these pieces of tin!

Have a license plate that you think would fit into my collection?

I would love to hear from you!

Koby Vinokor 516-353-2440

06/01/2022

This 1909 West Virginia porcelain license plate #90 surfaced in the rough alongside 1907-1908 West Virginia #1047, and 1911 West Virginia #1317 in October 2017. All three were acquired by Eric Taylor (ALPCA #4456). Eric offered 1909 WV #90 for sale for $6000.

Still a student at the time, I had a shot at buying it but had nowhere near the resources to do so. Jeff Francis (ALPCA #1879) purchased it. Eventually, Jeff traded it to Chuck Westphal (ALPCA #2541), who put it into his passenger porcelain run. When Chuck decided to sell that set off, he traded it to Gene Hauman (ALPCA #3065). Gene, despite normally going for condition, traded his 1909 which was in about equal shape to Greg Gibson (ALPCA #1208).

I visit with Gene each time I go to Long Island to see my parents. He always took great delight in pulling out his West Virginia plates and sitting back laughing as he watched me stare at #90. Gene would always remind me with a grin to “Just find me a better one and you can have it”... as if that was an easy task.

Fast forward to 2021, Corb Moister (ALPCA #919) decided to sell out of most of his state runs. Conrad Hughson (ALPCA #290) quickly acquired 1909 WV #280 - an absolute EX stunner to use as trade bait. Apparently, Jim Fox (ALPCA #1186) discovered #280 underneath the back seat of an antique car back in the early 1980’s! I saw this as my opportunity to find Gene an upgrade and finally get #90!

In order to get #280 from Conrad, I traded him a rare Maryland prestate (also acquired in a trade) and a stack of Benjamin’s to make up the value difference between our plates. A few days later, I showed up at Gene’s house and swapped him for #90 - finally getting the plate I wanted 4+ years later. Every time I pass #90 on my wall, I’m reminded of the long term perseverance and creativity required to add key plates to our collections.

To me, trading is the most exciting and rewarding part of our hobby!

Please reach out if you have any plates that you think may fit into my collection, please reach out.

Koby Vinokor
516-353-2440
ALPCA #11725

05/31/2022

On March 23, 1903 the State of New Jersey began requiring motor vehicle registration with the Secretary of State. Motorists were required to pay a $1.00 fee in exchange for a paper registration certificate that included a license number. Motorists were then required to display their new license numbers on the rear of their automobiles. The 1903 law stipulated that registration numbers must be displayed with 3” numerals. In total 4,800 registrations were given out in 1903.

On June 1, 1905, a new law in New Jersey took effect which included two distinct changes. First, motorists were now required to display a front and rear license plate. Second, numbers on said license plates were now required to have 4” numerals. This change likely stemmed from visibility issues and safety concerns for police. State designation was never required by New Jersey law. Beginning in 1904, New York motorists were required to display “NY” on their license plates. Though not specifically required, many New Jersey residents opted for their own state designation on their plates.

Here are two license plates from my personal collection that display this story well. The small #29 is a 1903 example including the optional “NJ”, and 3” numbers. The second plate is larger and was manufactured to satisfy the 1905 pair requirement. The owner must not have felt like splurging on an additional “NJ”.

I was very fortunate to obtain this set of license plates from an antique car collector in Maryland in November 2020. I am always looking to add new additions to my license plate collection. Please contact me with any items you may have available for sale or trade.

Koby Vinokor 516-353-2440