My mother was office manager for a Congressman in the late '60’s. I have the plate from her car and would like to find out how much it’s worth. I looked on e-bay but all they have are state license plates, of which many more were issued. Where would I begin such a search?
I’d be cautious first to ascertain that it’s not still considered property of the federal government.
And so as not to seem unhelpful, I just googled around and found this organization, if it helps.
The other group that might be interested is American Political Items Collectors. Now if you can find someone who is a member of both groups, you’d be really lucky.
Per here eBay doesn’t allow you to sell old government license plates. I don’t know if that’s just them playing it safe, or if the feds do indeed still regard them as government property.
As I read it, you can sell license plates, as long as they’re older than three years old.
You can sell normal private vehicle license plates after three years but “Government Vehicle License Plates” are in the entirely forbidden category.
What’s scrap metal go for by the pound these days?
Other than that, it sounds like it might have some subjective value. Sounds like you have a rather unique niche collectible item.
You could go on the Antique’s Roadshow and attempt to find out.
oh, wait… is it something like these?: U.S. Congress Permits
I was thinking they were something like a federal government motorpool plate. But those are basically just like parking permits. I’ll bet those are okay to sell on ebay.
It sounds like from that site that they’re unusual, but probably not particularly valuable.
That’s it, other than it reads “U.S. Congress” rather than Senate.
I’m not dying to sell it, just happened to see it on the wall of my office and wondered if it was worth anything.
I’ll give you $5 for it, if you include free shipping.
Lol, thanks, but I like the way it looks on the wall.
Here’s one that was for sale a while ago: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:_fWYEYpfxmIJ:www.manions.com/bid/bid.aspx~itemid~6057262~pic~20110719+congress+staff+plate&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com
That one was from '97, but it also came with a Maryland plate. Looks like they wanted $18 for both, but it didn’t sell.
Oh, and here’s one from '71 that sold for $34 on eBay: 1971 U.S.Congress STAFF Automobile License Plate | eBay
So it sounds like they’re not totally worthless, but they’re not exactly priceless Ming vases either. I wonder if the actual “Congress” ones (as opposed to the staff ones) are worth more. Maybe someone out there is trying to restore an old Pontiac to classic Tom Daschle condition. 