License plate collecting with the Wizard

Quote: Wizard

Can someone please explain to me what person would even consider paying $100,000 for this license plate? This is why I usually put in the filter that there must be at least one bid, so I don't waste my time looking at "auctions" like this one: LICENSE PLATE LOT MAN CAVE BAR AUTHENTIC ISSUE REAL NEVADA WALL ART NEEDRUM

Maybe they just heard we have more billionaires than ever?

It is not even that great or rare a plate. LWY-RUP, now that might get some interest.

Quote: Wizard

Can someone please explain to me what person would even consider paying $100,000 for this license plate? This is why I usually put in the filter that there must be at least one bid, so I don't waste my time looking at "auctions" like this one: LICENSE PLATE LOT MAN CAVE BAR AUTHENTIC ISSUE REAL NEVADA WALL ART NEEDRUM

Maybe if you won the lottery and then divorced Mr. Drum?

As my devoted followers know, I'm proud to have a real New Mexico license plate that says "F**K IT." With the U and C in there. I'd like to get more plates with naughty words but they are extremely hard to come by. However, here is one that tempts me: Michael Richards Signed Seinfeld Prop License Plate JSA COA AUTO Autograph.



For anyone he wasn't yet born in the 90's, Michael Richards played Kramer on Seinfeld.

At first, I thought this was just a prop, made to look like a New York license plate. However, this one seems to be out of the same prison that other New York plates come from. Notice the embossed lettering. Here is an actual one -- probably a sample.



One could argue that if the show had good connections and got this plate by pulling strings that it makes the license late illegitimate. However, in my opinion, if it is state made, that makes it a real license plate. Maybe not street legal, but still has some standing as an official license plate.

I do admit that the different size bolt holes give me pause. States have been known to change the sizes of them but don't know if that happened with this era in New York. Thicker lettering too on the ASSMAN plate but that has been known to vary too. Finally, that S looks fishy. Here is a real New York liberty vanity with an S: 1986 New York Statue Of Liberty Vanity License Plate SHAZOOOM




What are your thoughts? I think after writing this all out I've talked myself out of bidding on it. However, for a fake, they did a very nice job.

Quote: Wizard

What are your thoughts? I think after writing this all out I've talked myself out of bidding on it. However, for a fake, they did a very nice job.

It would be the highlight of any
collection, so it won't go cheap.

There are thousands of these stamped
plates. I would question the COA.
Call the number on the COA and ask
about it. Half the COA's people bring
into Pawn Stars are fake.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/265496707/seinfeld-cosmo-kramers-impala-assman

Quote: Evenbob

There are thousands of these stamped
plates. I would question the COA.
Call the number on the COA and ask
about it. Half the COA's people bring
into Pawn Stars are fake.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/265496707/seinfeld-cosmo-kramers-impala-assman

Thanks! I'm definitely going to let some other sucker get this one.

Quote: Wizard

Thanks! I'm definitely going to let some other sucker get this one.

The COA is meaningless. It implies Michael Richards
signed a replica plate, not that this is the actual
plate used on the show. Nowhere does it say that
or even imply it.

Quote: Wizard

What are your thoughts? I think after writing this all out I've talked myself out of bidding on it. However, for a fake, they did a very nice job.

Just so you know, it is not even 6AM here, I just got up. I went to my basement to check what a real NY plate of the era looks like. I will add in my NY knowledge having lived in NYS in the era.

1. The bolt holes on the ASSMAN plate are WRONG. IMHO this means that it did not come out of the prison where they make them. Said prison, BTW, contracts for several other states and the job of making them is highly coveted.

Lets assume that the prison will in fact run some plates as props. They might. First, they would never make you a prop plate that would be a current valid number. If "ASSMAN" was out, they would not make it. There is really no way to know this. But if they did, they would in all likelyhood use the same blanks.

Those blanks either are going to come with bold holes stamped at a fabricator before they arrive, which I think, or are stamped in the pen. Either way, they have to be the same.

2. NYS did experiment with "flat" lettering in this era, probably to simplify production. Raised vs. flat is NOT a DQ in and of itself.

3. As you point out, the font is not correct. I can email you a known correct 1998 plate from NY, but no letters match.

Verdict: It's a prop plate. Buy it as a show fan, not a plate collector.

Thanks AZD for helping me decide to leave that auction alone.

Here is an auction for the kind of legitimate plates that hold value and get respect among serious collectors: LICENSE PLATE NEBRASKA 1928 - 1946 SAME NUMBER 76-602 LOT 15 RARE LICENSE PLATES. Very clean plates. Love how they are all the same number, although I've seen that lots of times. Nebraska plates are not my emphasis but I pretty much have everything that is attainable from Nevada, California, and Maryland. I need to start looking at other states -- preferably the western ones.

Quote: Wizard

Thanks AZD for helping me decide to leave that auction alone.

I thought I helped you leave that auction.

The NB plates are cool and in great shape.