America's Most Expensive License Plates

America's Most Expensive License Plates

10. 1913 North Carolina ($10,000) - This tag was the first issued by the state. Like the 1906 Virginia plate, also the first in its state, it is made of delicate porcelain. Very few of these plates have lasted through the years, making them extremely desirable to collectors.

9. 1906 Virginia ($12,000) - The state's undated porcelain plate was first issued in 1906; the same design was used until 1911. The state's rugged early roads were notorious for chipping these fine porcelain plates, making surviving copies rare and all the more valuable.

8. 1913 Idaho ($13,000) - The 1913 plate was the first issued by Idaho. Back then, the state's registration fees were based on a vehicle's horsepower. Collectors note that the 1913 plate's dimensions are 15 1/4" by 6 1/4"--unusually large for an American plate.

7. 1905 Vermont ($15,000) - The 1905 Vermont plate doesn't display its year, but avid collectors know it well. The plate is one of the first made of porcelain; formerly, sign-makers created plates by baking enamel over steel. Connoisseurs admire the Vermont plate's deep cobalt blue background.

6. 1909 Delaware ($20,000) - This first plate from the First State was issued in 1909, made from porcelain and enamel. Delaware's governor recently unveiled a new optional plate to honor the centennial anniversary of the 1909 plate--perhaps the world's first license plate to honor another license plate.

5. 1906 West Virginia ($25,000) - This first-issue West Virginia license plate was made of a particularly thin cut of aluminum, which made it much less durable than most other early 20th century plates. This one still retains its beautiful blue color.

4. 1922 Hawaii ($30,000) - The territory of Hawaii issued its first plates in 1922, though some of the individual islands issued their own plates as early as 1915. Like Alaska, it was extremely difficult to transport cars to Hawaii, which helped to make these plates rare from the start. The 1922 plate gets extra points from collectors for its design, considered creative for its time.

3. 1912 Mississippi ($35,000) - 1912 was the first year Mississippi issued license plates, but there are more surviving copies of this plate than its newer, rarer cousin, the 1913 Mississippi plate. Because Mississippi was the nation's poorest state back then--as it is today--there were few cars on the roads, and thus, few license plates issued.

2. 1913 Mississippi ($50,000) - For many years, collectors did not know the 1913 Mississippi plate existed. But in 1985, Dr. Roy Klotz, Jr. of Pennsylvania discovered the plate after someone responded to a classified ad he'd placed in a Jackson, Miss., newspaper asking for old plates. Only two copies of the 1913 are known to exist.

1. 1921 Alaska ($60,000) - The 1921 Alaska is the most valuable vintage plate in the U.S. There are only four known to exist. The plate is the first issued by the territory of Alaska, decades before it attained statehood. Back then, transporting an automobile to Alaska was extremely difficult; once a car arrived, there were barely any roads to drive it on. The last sale of a 1921 Alaska plate occurred in 2000 in a Wendy's parking lot in Biddeford, Maine.