Hackney Carriage porcelains are extraordinarily scarce, with only seven years known, each of which is unique in collectors' hands. In addition to the Hackney plates, there was also a long run of Licensed Trucking porcelains issued in Providence. Very much like the Hackney Carriage plates, the Licensed Trucking porcelains are also square, but are slightly larger - 4" x 4". These plates are known as early as and were issued annually for nearly 20 years into the early '40s.
Numbers on these Trucking plates surpass 1, in some years and they are slightly more attainable than the other Providence city-issued porcelains, with two or three known of each of the most common years. Furthermore, its round shape is very distinctive, as it is the only example of a round porcelain license plate of any kind — state or city issued — known from New England.
There are two surviving examples of these scarce plates, with numbers reaching nearly The first issue plates were simple white and black plates modeled loosely on the Massachusetts Auto Registers which began one year earlier. The first batch — probably an order of pairs — was manufactured in May of A second batch is known to have been made the following month.
The Rhode Island Registers were manufactured over a period of four years, from to , and during that time, there were a few alterations in the format of the plates. Most collectors break Registers into two types — the early issues with a small legend at the top, and the later issues with a substantially larger legend. The small legend plates, made of a thin-grade steel and with narrow numerals and a black back, were not on the road for very long and numbers only reached the low s, meaning that they were changed before was over.
The remainder of the first-issue period was characterized by the larger legend plates, which bear no indication as to the company that manufactured them, have white backs, block style numerals and are made of a thicker metal. Rhode Island specialists, however, add an additional variety by distinguishing subtle differences between these later issues. The primary difference is the width of the character strokes, which underwent a change at about plate number 2, The following chart illustrates the breakdown of RI first-issue porcelains by year: The first issue plates continued to be issued through mid, when a second issue porcelain was introduced.
Chapter of the Rhode Island state laws repealed the act of and was passed on May 26, Under the new law, motorists had to register with the State Board of Public Roads, and registrations now had to be renewed annually. Notably, however, this did not mean the era of the first-issue plate was over.
In fact, so long as a motorist continued to pay his or her registration fee each year, their original Registers could be used indefinitely. It was only new registrants without a prior plate assigned during the first-issue era who received the second issue plates.
Of course, if a motorist who had a Register preferred the new plates, he or she could purchase a replacement set with their original registration number. Thus, while plate numbering on the second-issue bases picked up beginning in right where the first-issued bases ran out approximately 3,, according to Eric Tanner , there are numerous examples of second-issue plates with numbers first issued as early as Due to a production delay, Dragon estimates that the second-issue plates first hit the streets of Rhode Island on June 15, , even though the effective date of the new law was June 1.
Interestingly, the manufacturer of second- issue Rhode Island porcelains is unknown. Notably, a design flaw was spotted and corrected quickly. Plates without the serifs are quite rare, as fewer than 1, sets were ever manufactured. This change was brought about partially because the first and second issue plates, both of which were still simultaneously valid and on the road, were hard to read. However, another reason was because Rhode Island license plates were on the verge of the 10, mark when five-digit plates would have to be produced.
The first batch of 9, sets appear to have been issued in late April. By July 25, the three-month grace period was over, and all vehicles had to be equipped with the new black on white plates. Rhode Island plates were first made of porcelain and are now made of metal. Rhode Island switched to aluminum in Dragon also noted it was common at one time for a plate to be hung from the front axle of a car by a leather strap. That ended, he said, in Rhode Island began registering cars in and by the end of the year, there were only license plates issued.
Some license plates used to have metal plates that showed the year of registration, which are now stickers, a practice that began in Vanity plates also began in with four letters and now they are made to accommodate six letters.
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here. As a young lad Rich would drag his parents to license plate meets both locally and on the National level.
Not content with observing the experts Rich dug in and got his hands dirty at an early age. Writing articles for the newsletter influenced him to become publications editor in A name change had been considered off and on for nearly twenty years with no action taken until Rich took control and made it happen.
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