Texas 1925 Annual Plate
1925–1925Texas · annual
The year arrives on the plate, and with it the annual replacement that defined Texas registration for the next half century. TEXAS reads up the left edge and 1925 up the right, so for the first time a plate dates itself. The field is maroon, the first of the yearly colour changes that let an officer place a plate at a glance: grey and black followed in 1926, white on green in 1927. The plate shown is a reconstruction carrying an invented serial, so no real registration is depicted.
A plate for one year only
Texas replaced its plates every year in this era, which is why 1925 is stamped into the design rather than carried on a sticker. The plate was the registration: it was surrendered and replaced twelve months later, and the colour pairing usually changed with it so an officer could date a plate at a glance. That is also why plates from these years are scarce, each one having been current for a single year.
Before the standard
This plate is long and shallow rather than the familiar oblong, roughly 13.4 by 5 inches. The uniform 6 by 12 inch size was settled later through the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, and until it was, plates were sized to each state's own taste. That is why one of these will not sit in a modern frame.
Stamped, not printed
Every character here is pressed into the metal and stands proud of the surface, along with the raised rim just inside the edge. Run a hand across it and you feel the whole design. The plate was struck from flat stock in a press, then the raised faces were rolled with paint, which is why wear shows first on the tops of the characters.
Sources
Reference photograph of an issued plate, heavily oxidised, from a collector listing. Not republished; only the reconstruction is (All rights reserved, cited not reproduced). The maroon field, the star separator and the vertical TEXAS and 1925 legends (CC BY-SA).
- Issued
- Standard issue
- The plate you received by default when you registered a vehicle.
- Serial format
- 999★999
- Material
- Embossed metal
- Source license
- All rights reserved, cited not reproduced
- Reference
- View original