License plate collecting with the Wizard

Quote: AZDuffman

Think Civil War collectables. .

Any collectible from any war should never be touched.
Any restoration kills its value. A restored plate looks
great on a restored car. An orig plate looks good in
a collection. You don't restore guns, swords and knives,
tools, antique medical collectibles, generally anything
that was used on a daily or regular basis. The value lies
in the patina of use, and the rarity. You can restore
furniture less than 100 years old, anything older leave
it alone. As far as the 1910 plate goes, I would have sold
it in orig uncleaned cond, why take the chance.

Quote: Evenbob

As far as the 1910 plate goes, I would have sold
it in orig uncleaned cond, why take the chance.

It was probably a total basket case that by that time would have more value repainted.

Saw a story on a lady trying to get a custom plate, and it came back looking like a Justin Bieber fan plate. She got it replaced.

Wizard, you ever put a tracker on Google for news stories on license plates? You might be able to "relieve" some of these people of plates with an offer and score yourself some collectable? (I don't know about this one)

Quote: rxwine

Saw a story on a lady trying to get a custom plate, and it came back looking like a Justin Bieber fan plate. She got it replaced.

Wizard, you ever put a tracker on Google for news stories on license plates? You might be able to "relieve" some of these people of plates with an offer and score yourself some collectable? (I don't know about this one)

No, I don't do that. License plate news is often about a controversy about a vanity plate being denied, which I don't really care about. Or the latest fund raiser license plate.

Man, what an internal struggle I had...

At the risk of incurring a hefty suspension, Wiz had asked me to keep an eye out for a plate whilst on my vacay to BVI. No problem, of course; I saw a metric ton of plates my last trip. But how....?

Many of the plates are actually decoration. It seems to be a thing at every bar and club for visitors to bring their personal plates and tack them to a wall. Most of them were unremarkable; just random plates from the lower 48. I did see one, from Illinois, I think, that was vulgar. "A55B4G" (ASSBAG), or something like that. I dunno, I was drunk =p Seemed to be legit, too. I didn't check for stickers or stamps, but it appeared to have some wear on it from actual use.

Anyways, obviously there's no point to tacking up a BVI plate in the BVI. And so my internal struggle began.

The instant I hit the tarmac, there were Federal vehicles everywhere, and most had simple twist tabs holding the plate on. A quarter turn and it would pop right off, could've done it in 2 seconds. And what a score! A Fed plate! But with vacay just seconds old and episodes of "Locked Up Abroad" flashing through my head, I saved it for future consideration.

Finding other plates for sale was fruitless. It was clear I'd either have to get really lucky and find one that fell off (not easy when 95% of the time was on the water) or just nick one off a vehicle.

But theft? It would surely be easy, but... hard to justify. Completing the mission was all sorted out. We kids used to play "Commando" in our youth. It involved going out after curfew and getting as close to a manned police car as we could, then egress from the "mission point" without getting caught. No problem. Between going full Commando or just acting like a drunk tourist that needed to rest behind a car, obtaining the plate was all but guaranteed. But how to deal with the theft?

I eventually soothed my conscience by offering reparation. If I left a note (so they'd notice and not get pulled over), and left payment double the cost of getting a new one (giving them a decent profit), I felt I could sleep at night. Hell, I'd appreciate if someone did it for me. That's like $90 an hour. That's like a gift. So I was all set, right?

But then there was Wiz. I had no idea how he'd react. I know he loves his plates, and damn but the ones down there were sure pretty. No rust or wear, either, because it's always 80 and sunny. But it was "stolen goods". It was "unjust". It wasn't "noble". Nothing I knew of Wiz could get passed that; it was the one hurdle I couldn't jump.

I was there 11 days. I thought about it for every one of them. But I just couldn't convince myself it was what Wiz would've wanted.

Sorry, Wiz. I'll try again next year. Or you can wait until I bug out and move there, and I'll send you one of my own =)

Did you or did you not steal a license plate?

Quote: Nareed

Did you or did you not steal a license plate?

I did not. Never even attempted*

*Unless speaking in God terms, where even the thought of attempting means I did.

Quote: Face

*Unless speaking in God terms, where even the thought of attempting means I did.

There are light years between the thought and the actual deed.

Now go wash your mouth out with soap for even bringing it up ;)

Quote: Nareed

There are light years between the thought and the actual deed.

Now go wash your mouth out with soap for even bringing it up ;)

Did.. did St. Nareed just issue me a penance? O.o

Quote: Face

Sorry, Wiz. I'll try again next year. Or you can wait until I bug out and move there, and I'll send you one of my own =)

Thank you very much for your effort and you did the right thing. We license plate collectors pride ourselves on high ethical standards and stealing plates off cars, or anywhere, is strictly taboo. I wouldn't have accepted it if you had stolen it, except to anonymously mail it back to the police department in the BVI.

In other license plate news, I have a sniper bid on these Arizona motorcycle dealer plates. AZ m/c plates is one of my areas of emphasis, although I haven't gone that far with it. They don't change hands much and when they do, it is for high prices, in the hundreds.

The auction ends about 11AM tomorrow. Wish me luck to get them at a nice price.

p.s. Nareed may note the common coloring and even font to older Mexican license plates.