Help me with the age of this license plate

**Király** · January-17-15, 01:51 PM

I've asked about this in another thread but am not getting any responses. I have this bicycle license plate and want to know approximately how old it is. Come on, some of you must have had one of these on your bike when you were a kid. How long ago was that? I'm guessing it dates from sometime between 1950 and 1990. Help me narrow it down a little more please!

**Király** · January-18-15, 06:44 PM

The plate is made of aluminum if that helps any - I understand that these plates were made of steel as well.

**Király** · January-23-15, 02:08 AM

It's 2 inches tall and 2.75 inches wide... really nobody knows anything about these?

**Gpwrangler** · January-23-15, 04:57 AM

Originally Posted by Király

It's 2 inches tall and 2.75 inches wide... really nobody knows anything about these?

Did you google it? I can remember registering bikes in the 70s but never paid for a "license plate". This must've been long, long ago.

**Maof** · January-23-15, 08:15 AM

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedi...ith-det-police

here's one that sold on ebay in 2007. says it's from the 50's.

**mikefmich** · January-23-15, 08:46 AM

My cousins and I had these....I'm going with late 50's, perhaps very early 60's.

**WKL** · January-23-15, 10:25 AM

We we're getting the license sticker things in the later 60s when I got to go register the first bike I pay for all by myself.

**swan** · January-23-15, 08:12 PM

I remember these from the 50's. They came with a metal strap which could not be opened once you closed it on your bicycle. They mounted at the base of the seat on the "V" that was formed where the frame went down to mount the rear wheel. This would be behind the seat.

I am not real sure but believe you had to get a new one each year and the color changed each year.

**Király** · January-23-15, 09:15 PM

Thanks for the responses. Yes of course I googled it but was running into a dead end. Some plates have the year on them and say DET.-B.-L. Those ones I have seen with dates from 1939 to 1953. Like this:

I hadn't expected my plate to be from as early as the 50s or early 60s as it is made of aluminum - I didn't think aluminum was in use much back then for this kind of thing. But if nobody has any memory of them since the mid-60s then I guess it must be that old.

**turkeycall** · January-26-15, 05:59 PM

Gee, how many years ago? Before 1964, when I would have been an 8th-grader at Bethany Lutheran, I was riding my bike on Southampton from Oldtown to Farmbrook. As I was riding in the street, I got pulled over by a plain-clothes cop in an unmarked car. It must have been a slow day for him.

I was issued a traffic ticket for riding in the street AND not having a bicycle license. My mother and I had to ride the bus to the 5th - or was it the 15th - precinct on Connor Avenue.

For the princely sum of $1.00, I was issued a bicycle license. It looked very similar to the one in the original post. I don't remember if it was steel or aluminum, but it was attached below the seat with a metal band that locked it into place. It reminded me of the deer antler tag issued to deer hunters.

This would probably have taken place around 1958 or 59.