Those who collect antique license plates worth literally hundreds of dollars belong to one of those funny “niche hobbies that not many people are aware of.

Practically since the dawn of the automobile age, when Paris issued the first license plate in 1893, people have wanted to collect them. One of the most expensive antique license plates ever sold in the United States was an Alaska plate dated 1921. That antique license plates value is currently over sixty thousand dollars, if not more since that was what Forbes magazine reckoned it was worth in 2008.

Some old Mississippi license plates from the period of 1912-1913 have been valued at over $30,000!   At an auction in Paris recently, an old French license plate sold for over ten thousand Euros.

How To Find The Value Of Antique License Plates You May Have

If you have an old license plate that you have found, perhaps one passed down to you from a family member, you should not rush to sell it for a few cents in a yard sale along with other junk items. You might find out like my good friend Bill The Mechanic did that yours is worth several hundred dollars. Before you do anything with your old license plate, note the date and do a quick search on eBay.com for ones like it. Track the item if necessary to find the final selling price and you may get a good idea of how much your antique license plate is worth. It must might be one of the world’s most valuable antique license plates if it is from the turn of the century.  If you can pick up a copy of “License Plate Values” by Bob Crisler. This book is used by many amateur and pro license plate collectors to negotiate the selling price of antique license plates. Since these license plate value books are not published but every few years, the values that you get from them are approximate.

When looking for the most valuable antique license plates,  keep in mind that collectors may often buy rusted and bent ones, they vastly prefer ones in pristine condition. Such plates may have been found in government property auctions and never spent a day attached to a vehicle.

One great place that I love to search for antique license plates  is at junk yards. Ask the owner of the yard if they have any old license plates for sale or for picking yourself from cars.  You may find that they will take a small amount of money for them. You might be able to turn right around and sell them on eBay for a profit of several hundred percent. To be a fully armed license plate collector, it is essential to use a guidebook and the internet to find the most valuable antique license plates out there.  The most expensive license plates sold at auction were often found lying in old barns and garages.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

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