British Columbia Passenger License Plates
1915-1917

1915
Issuing Statistics
1915:
unknown

1916
Issuing Statistics
1916:
1 to 9,342

1916 - Design Variations
The plates at left are from a photo from Anthony Bennett taken in the early 1990s and show a design variation that occurred near the end of the series.
The No. 3702 shown at bottom displays the standard 1916 design (i.e. painted font of the numbers, coat-of-arms, etc.), while the No. 9316 is seen to be on the longer 1917 base with the 1917 fonts.
Interestingly, the coat-of-arms on the No. 9316 is not reflective of the smaller coat-of-arms which appeared on low numbered 1917s, while the spacing of the "B.C." is similarly unique.
The No. 9316 was issued on November 24, 1916 to a Mr F. Pemberton of 601 Foul Bay Road in Victoria, with the last number issued in 1916 being the No. 9342 on December 29, 1916 (which would have been valid for all of 3 days - which leads us to wonder; really Mr Watson of Gordon Head, what was the point, could you not have waited a few days?).

1917
Issuing Statistics
1917:
unknown

Unused 1917 - No. 6991
What is great about this particular plate set is that is was never put onto a car but rather ended up being stored in the original envelope from the Superintendent of Provincial Police for many, many decades. James L. MacKay of Athalmer (near Invermere in the Kootenays) first registered his Ford on March 26, 1914 and renewed it again in 1915 & 1916. But, as can been seen by these plates, they never made it onto the Ford the following, which probably explains why the Register for this period does not show the vehicle as being on the road in 1917. Especially rare is the example of the original envelope, which predates the creation of the Motor Vehicle Branch. The plate at far right is the other one from the set and shows how the paint from the plate behind it in the envelope dried onto it.

1917 - Design Variations
The most obvious difference between the early and later issue 1917's is the manufacturing of the plate and the design of the upper slots.  With the early issues, such as the one at left, the wire rim has been left exposed and forms the top of the slot; whereas, with the later issues in the series, the slot has been completely redesigned with a new slot.
The other noticeable difference - at least on the three examples shown above - is the design of the Provincial Coat of Arms (which is shockingly poor on the plate at left) and the font used on "BC".

*     *     *     *     *
There is no rarer, nor more desirable plate then the first one issued in a series! This plate is from the collection of Alan Betts, and comes with its very own story. For those of you who are keen students of my Registration Data Archive, you will know that the very first plate issued in British Columbia went to John Barnsley of Victoria. Mr. Barnsley held the number for many years, as the back of this plate states: "Last Owner: John Barnsley, 253 Gorge Road, Victoria."


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