Kentucky Bluegrass State Plate
2020–presentKentucky · current · “Bluegrass State”
Bluegrass is not blue. It is a green pasture grass that carries a faint blue cast in its seed heads in spring, across the limestone country of central Kentucky, and the state named itself after the effect. The county name is printed into the strip along the foot as part of the artwork. The plates are made by inmates at the Roederer Correctional Complex. The plate shown is a reconstruction carrying an invented serial, so no real registration is depicted.
Still on the road
This is a current issue, first seen in 2020 and still being handed out. Nothing about it is settled history: the serial sequence is still advancing, and the design will only stop where the state decides to replace it.
Printed, not stamped
This plate is smooth. The design is printed onto flat reflective sheeting rather than pressed into the metal. It is what makes photographic backgrounds and fine detail possible at all, and it is the reason a modern plate feels like a sign where an older one feels like a stamping.
Sources
Reference photograph of an issued plate from a collector listing (All rights reserved, cited not reproduced). Issue date and the change of serial format in August 2021 (CC BY-SA).
- Issued
- Standard issue
- The plate you received by default when you registered a vehicle.
- Serial format
- A9A999
- Material
- Flat aluminium, printed on reflective sheeting
- Source license
- All rights reserved, cited not reproduced
- Reference
- View original