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California Archive - Part 1
TOTAL KNOWN PORCELAIN VARIETIES: 65
I: PRE-STATES / CITY & COUNTY PLATES
California has a very rich history of
porcelain pre-states, boasting some of
the most attractive and unique porcelains
ever produced in any state. Although
California first required license plates to
be used in 1905, all known varieties over
the first four years are made of metal,
leather, wood, and other such materials.
As per the 1905 ordinance, plates were
only required on the rear of the car. As
California plate historian Jeff Minard has
discovered, the switch to porcelain seems to have occurred in 1909, when the
Automobile Club of Southern California, responding to growing pressure to force
motorists to display plates on the front as well as the rear of their vehicles,
offered members porcelain Auto Club “hangars”for the backs of their cars,
sending each of the Club’s 1,000 members a free plate. Plates for new
registrants began around 20,000. Of course, lower numbers are known as well,
because the Auto Club provided whatever number a vehicle had registered to it.
For someone looking to have a pretty porcelain plate made to replace their
tattered leather plate from years earlier, they got a porcelain with that same
number, be it from 1905, 1906, or whatever. Between mid-1909 and the end of
the pre-state era, Minard estimates that perhaps 4,000 Auto Club plates of all
varieties were manufactured. These plates carried the emblem of both the Auto
Club of Southern California, as well as the American Automobile Association.
The Auto Club porcelains come with
various subtle differences, but can be
essentially broken down into seven
collectible varieties. The first three
concern the state’s famous and elaborate
“Mickey Mouse” plates, as they have
come to be known among collectors.
These plates have the Auto Club and Auto
Association emblems at the top. A
substantially rarer variant has the ears
on the bottom and itself comes in two
different formats. There are only two of
these inverted plates known - one a five digit and the other a six digit plate. The
other four varieties are the long and short versions of the “Dogbone” porcelains,
so known because they carried the Club emblems on the ends, as opposed to the
top or bottom. Specialists see even further subtle differences, such as the
presence of some dogbone plates with bolt holes, others with slots, and still
others with neither slots nor holes, but these are not generally considered
distinct types. The most unusual version of the “Dogbone” plates are notable for
having a lipped edge along the top and bottom, with the majority bearing blue
letters and numbers, as opposed to the black characters which adorn all other
varieties of Auto Club porcelains. All Auto Club porcelains were issued in pairs,
and could be ordered from the Auto Club in a mix of styles. For instance, a
"Dogbone" could adorn the back of a vehicle, while a porcelain or even a metal
screen version of a "Mickey Mouse" could hang on the front.
In mid-1911, the Auto Club began issuing plates to non-members, thus accounting
for the presence of porcelain California pre-states without the Auto Club
designation on them. Newly registered vehicles in 1911 got plates starting in the
50,000s. There are three varieties of these California pre-states. By far the most
common is a simple rectangular porcelain plate. This plate also is known with
lipped edges. One unexplained variant has a "0" prefix and may have been a
sample, as the number is 06789, but this plate's precise usage is a mystery.
Finally, there is another unique plate with an odd shape that looks as if it were
modeled on the "Mickey Mouse" plates.
California pre-states break down into the following year based on plate number:
In addition to California's rich history of pre-state porcelains, there are also a
number of locally issued porcelain plates from the state. With the exception of a
single variety - the undated curved motorcycle porcelains from Los Angeles - all
known California local issues are post-state issue. In addition, all of the other
city-issued porcelains from the state are special issues designed to license a
certain class of vehicle, be it a junk dealer, a produce dealer, a motorcycle, or a
jitney bus. Even in the largest cities, there were never any ordinances requiring
porcelain plates to be used on passenger vehicles. Instead, California local
issues are very obscure, rare, and little understood.
COLTON
This mysterious plate is one we know virtually nothing about. There are two
surviving examples in collections today. Colton was a small town of about 4,000
residents in 1920. Its claim to fame is that two transcontinental railway lines - the
Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe - intersect there. The junction is
one of the busiest at-grade railroad crossings in the United States. The Colton
plates are undated, but appear fairly old and may well have been used in the
teens. One of the most remarkable aspects of these plates is that they use the
non-American spelling of the word "license." Instead, the Colton plates read
"licence no." followed by the plate number. It is highly unlikely that these plates
were used as part of a general ordinance licensing vehicles in the city. Instead,
they were most certainly intended for use on some very specialized vehicle.
LONG BEACH
The Southern California community of Long Beach was home to about 50,000
residents in the late teens and early twenties. Like the Colton plates, Long Beach
plates are undated, but appear to be quite old, and could easily date from this
period. There are two known varieties of these large porcelain plates - plates
designed to license vehicles that carried lumber, and plates used on vehicles
that hauled junk. Both of these are highly unusual designations for porcelain
license plates. The lumber vehicle plates are the only example of a porcelain
license plate known from anywhere - state or locally issued - to use that term.
The junk collector plates are nearly as unusual, sharing the designation "junk"
with only Stamford, CT in terms of that word's usage on porcelain license plates.
LOS ANGELES
The only known plates from the city are motorcycle plates, which appear to have
been made of both flat painted metal and porcelain. They bear the distinguishing
curved format just as later state-issued cycles would adopt. Jeff Minard
estimates that these plates date from as early as 1909. Although these plates are
exceedingly rare, Los Angeles was of course, a huge city - the second largest in
the state and home to some 300,000 to 400,000 people in California's pre-state
period. There must have been thousands of motorcycles registered in the state
before 1914, and it is perhaps surprising that more surviving examples have not
shown up. Both surviving examples are entirely different from one another and
have numbers in the 3,000s, suggesting that there may have been a bloc of
numbers set aside for the registration of motorcycles. Of all the porcelain local
issues from California, the L.A. cycle plate is the only one dating to the pre-state
period.
SACRAMENTO
California's state capitol is not known to have produced porcelain plates prior to
the 1930s. When they finally decided to jump into the porcelain mix, they did so
with a series of plates intended to license produce dealers and wood & coal
dealers. These vary over the years - some of them have the city name while
others don't, some are numbered while others aren't, and they range broadly in
color schemes, including a very strange red & green Produce Dealer plate from
1940. The last known year is a Wood & Coal dealer plate from 1942. Sacramento's
run of porcelains stretching into the 1940s is notable because it joins only one
other city in the country - Providence, RI - as the sole jurisdictions issuing
porcelain plates at this late date.
SAN FRANCISCO
San Francisco was the most populous city in the state of California in the teens,
with some half-million residents. As a glance through the newspapers of the time
clearly shows, jitney buses were considered a growing nuisance in both San
Francisco as well as Los Angeles, and were causing a great many accidents and
injuries. As a result, jitney buses were soon regulated and licensed, thus
accounting for the known porcelain plates from San Francisco. There are two
porcelain jitney plates known, both dated 1916. Only one of them actually has the
city designation on it, and while it is conceivable that the other plate hails from a
different city, conventional wisdom is that they are both from San Francisco.
Since the one bearing the "S.F." abbreviation is designated for a "Class A" jitney,
perhaps the other one went on a "Class B" jitney - whatever that was.
Regardless, these plates are extraordinarily rare, with both varieties being
completely unique in collectors' hands.
I: PRE-STATES / CITY & COUNTY PLATES
California has a very rich history of
porcelain pre-states, boasting some of
the most attractive and unique porcelains
ever produced in any state. Although
California first required license plates to
be used in 1905, all known varieties over
the first four years are made of metal,
leather, wood, and other such materials.
As per the 1905 ordinance, plates were
only required on the rear of the car. As
California plate historian Jeff Minard has
discovered, the switch to porcelain seems to have occurred in 1909, when the
Automobile Club of Southern California, responding to growing pressure to force
motorists to display plates on the front as well as the rear of their vehicles,
offered members porcelain Auto Club “hangars”for the backs of their cars,
sending each of the Club’s 1,000 members a free plate. Plates for new
registrants began around 20,000. Of course, lower numbers are known as well,
because the Auto Club provided whatever number a vehicle had registered to it.
For someone looking to have a pretty porcelain plate made to replace their
tattered leather plate from years earlier, they got a porcelain with that same
number, be it from 1905, 1906, or whatever. Between mid-1909 and the end of
the pre-state era, Minard estimates that perhaps 4,000 Auto Club plates of all
varieties were manufactured. These plates carried the emblem of both the Auto
Club of Southern California, as well as the American Automobile Association.
The Auto Club porcelains come with
various subtle differences, but can be
essentially broken down into seven
collectible varieties. The first three
concern the state’s famous and elaborate
“Mickey Mouse” plates, as they have
come to be known among collectors.
These plates have the Auto Club and Auto
Association emblems at the top. A
substantially rarer variant has the ears
on the bottom and itself comes in two
different formats. There are only two of
these inverted plates known - one a five digit and the other a six digit plate. The
other four varieties are the long and short versions of the “Dogbone” porcelains,
so known because they carried the Club emblems on the ends, as opposed to the
top or bottom. Specialists see even further subtle differences, such as the
presence of some dogbone plates with bolt holes, others with slots, and still
others with neither slots nor holes, but these are not generally considered
distinct types. The most unusual version of the “Dogbone” plates are notable for
having a lipped edge along the top and bottom, with the majority bearing blue
letters and numbers, as opposed to the black characters which adorn all other
varieties of Auto Club porcelains. All Auto Club porcelains were issued in pairs,
and could be ordered from the Auto Club in a mix of styles. For instance, a
"Dogbone" could adorn the back of a vehicle, while a porcelain or even a metal
screen version of a "Mickey Mouse" could hang on the front.
In mid-1911, the Auto Club began issuing plates to non-members, thus accounting
for the presence of porcelain California pre-states without the Auto Club
designation on them. Newly registered vehicles in 1911 got plates starting in the
50,000s. There are three varieties of these California pre-states. By far the most
common is a simple rectangular porcelain plate. This plate also is known with
lipped edges. One unexplained variant has a "0" prefix and may have been a
sample, as the number is 06789, but this plate's precise usage is a mystery.
Finally, there is another unique plate with an odd shape that looks as if it were
modeled on the "Mickey Mouse" plates.
California pre-states break down into the following year based on plate number:
In addition to California's rich history of pre-state porcelains, there are also a
number of locally issued porcelain plates from the state. With the exception of a
single variety - the undated curved motorcycle porcelains from Los Angeles - all
known California local issues are post-state issue. In addition, all of the other
city-issued porcelains from the state are special issues designed to license a
certain class of vehicle, be it a junk dealer, a produce dealer, a motorcycle, or a
jitney bus. Even in the largest cities, there were never any ordinances requiring
porcelain plates to be used on passenger vehicles. Instead, California local
issues are very obscure, rare, and little understood.
COLTON
This mysterious plate is one we know virtually nothing about. There are two
surviving examples in collections today. Colton was a small town of about 4,000
residents in 1920. Its claim to fame is that two transcontinental railway lines - the
Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe - intersect there. The junction is
one of the busiest at-grade railroad crossings in the United States. The Colton
plates are undated, but appear fairly old and may well have been used in the
teens. One of the most remarkable aspects of these plates is that they use the
non-American spelling of the word "license." Instead, the Colton plates read
"licence no." followed by the plate number. It is highly unlikely that these plates
were used as part of a general ordinance licensing vehicles in the city. Instead,
they were most certainly intended for use on some very specialized vehicle.
LONG BEACH
The Southern California community of Long Beach was home to about 50,000
residents in the late teens and early twenties. Like the Colton plates, Long Beach
plates are undated, but appear to be quite old, and could easily date from this
period. There are two known varieties of these large porcelain plates - plates
designed to license vehicles that carried lumber, and plates used on vehicles
that hauled junk. Both of these are highly unusual designations for porcelain
license plates. The lumber vehicle plates are the only example of a porcelain
license plate known from anywhere - state or locally issued - to use that term.
The junk collector plates are nearly as unusual, sharing the designation "junk"
with only Stamford, CT in terms of that word's usage on porcelain license plates.
LOS ANGELES
The only known plates from the city are motorcycle plates, which appear to have
been made of both flat painted metal and porcelain. They bear the distinguishing
curved format just as later state-issued cycles would adopt. Jeff Minard
estimates that these plates date from as early as 1909. Although these plates are
exceedingly rare, Los Angeles was of course, a huge city - the second largest in
the state and home to some 300,000 to 400,000 people in California's pre-state
period. There must have been thousands of motorcycles registered in the state
before 1914, and it is perhaps surprising that more surviving examples have not
shown up. Both surviving examples are entirely different from one another and
have numbers in the 3,000s, suggesting that there may have been a bloc of
numbers set aside for the registration of motorcycles. Of all the porcelain local
issues from California, the L.A. cycle plate is the only one dating to the pre-state
period.
SACRAMENTO
California's state capitol is not known to have produced porcelain plates prior to
the 1930s. When they finally decided to jump into the porcelain mix, they did so
with a series of plates intended to license produce dealers and wood & coal
dealers. These vary over the years - some of them have the city name while
others don't, some are numbered while others aren't, and they range broadly in
color schemes, including a very strange red & green Produce Dealer plate from
1940. The last known year is a Wood & Coal dealer plate from 1942. Sacramento's
run of porcelains stretching into the 1940s is notable because it joins only one
other city in the country - Providence, RI - as the sole jurisdictions issuing
porcelain plates at this late date.
SAN FRANCISCO
San Francisco was the most populous city in the state of California in the teens,
with some half-million residents. As a glance through the newspapers of the time
clearly shows, jitney buses were considered a growing nuisance in both San
Francisco as well as Los Angeles, and were causing a great many accidents and
injuries. As a result, jitney buses were soon regulated and licensed, thus
accounting for the known porcelain plates from San Francisco. There are two
porcelain jitney plates known, both dated 1916. Only one of them actually has the
city designation on it, and while it is conceivable that the other plate hails from a
different city, conventional wisdom is that they are both from San Francisco.
Since the one bearing the "S.F." abbreviation is designated for a "Class A" jitney,
perhaps the other one went on a "Class B" jitney - whatever that was.
Regardless, these plates are extraordinarily rare, with both varieties being
completely unique in collectors' hands.
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Due to the size of the California archive, I have split it into two parts. Part 2 contains information on the following: II: STATE-ISSUED PASSENGER PLATES III: STATE-ISSUED NON-PASSENGER PLATES IV: ODDBALL PORCELAINS FURTHER READING CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF THE CALIFORNIA ARCHIVE |
Due to the size of the California archive, I have split it into two parts. Part 2 contains information on the following: II: STATE-ISSUED PASSENGER PLATES III: STATE-ISSUED NON-PASSENGER PLATES IV: ODDBALL PORCELAINS FURTHER READING CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF THE CALIFORNIA ARCHIVE |
California "Mickey Mouse" Pre-state
| California "Dogbone" Pre-state Courtesy of the L.A. Public LIbrary |
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Examples of mixed variety pairs of pre-states |
Unique pairing of a regular set of "Mickey" plates with a single inverted version. |
Unusual zero prefix pre-state. Could this be a sample? |
| For a photographic census of known "Mickey Mouse" porcelain pre-states, click HERE. |