Vintage Number Plates Are A Status Symbol

n 2008, a Delaware license plate, tag “6” sold for a staggering $675,000. While that seems like a whopping amount for a license plate, it was estimated prior to the sale that the one-digit porcelain plate would fetch as much as $1 million. The license plates are coveted one-off collectibles and instantly recognized status symbols in the nation’s First State. It is indeed a state of mind obsession and a highly valued possession.

Delaware is the only state that permits private citizens to transfer state-issued license plates among each other. Delaware first issued tags in 1909. The porcelain plates were black with white lettering. It is the porcelain that makes the states’ plates distinct. Other states stopped using porcelain in making license plates in the early 1920s. Delaware used porcelain for its plates until 1946. The last porcelain plate issued by the state was number “86999.”