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Two hundred years from what starting point? That is the first useful question in a Bicentennial license-plate collection. The national anniversary of 1776 and a state’s own bicentennial can produce equally interesting plates, but they belong to different commemorative stories. A later validation date can add a third timeline: the design may remain in circulation after the anniversary it celebrates.
US collectors choosing dealers for this subject therefore need more than a search for license plates dated 1976. The offers below include national and state commemorations, later-dated survivors, individual plates, and two-plate purchases. Each merchant has actual collectible stock relevant to the theme. The comparison keeps the anniversary, the date assigned to the particular plate, and the quantity being sold separate.
Which anniversary, which object?
The anniversary design, the identity of the offered plate, and its purchase format supply the three comparison criteria. They explain why the list includes later-dated bases alongside 1976 objects, and why a named pair can be useful even when the same design is available singly.
ShopLicensePlates leads in the promoted position. DAZ and Automobile License Plate Store offer direct routes to named commemorations; the sequence then develops choices among representative designs, particular specimens, later validation, and pairs or sleeved sets. These are editorial purchase comparisons based on the sellers’ offers.
Best 10 Bicentennial License Plate Dealers
1. ShopLicensePlates
2020 and 2021 have different jobs on Missouri offer LB8L3T among the US license plates for sale at ShopLicensePlates. The former is the seller’s listed year for the plate; the latter closes the 1821-2021 statehood interval celebrated by its Bicentennial design. Both dates belong in the record. Dropping either would lose the distinction that makes this a useful addition to an anniversary collection.
Placed beside a national Bicentennial design, the Missouri plate would change the display from one anniversary into a comparison of commemorations. The red-white-and-blue palette may connect the objects visually, while the 1821-2021 interval gives Missouri its own historical subject. That relationship is the reason to add it to a collection already rich in 1976 material: the two-century idea continues, but the event being remembered changes.
For a display, the Missouri state seal provides a clear visual center. Compare its visibility and the anniversary wording in the offered photograph before choosing the specimen. Those features carry more of this collection’s meaning than an otherwise attractive registration number would.
2. DAZ PL8S
DAZ PL8S is especially useful when the collection includes more than one anniversary. Its Tennessee 555 GST offer carries the BicenTENNial design and a 1996 sticker date, while Montana entries identify the national Bicentennial theme. The compact inventory lets a buyer pursue those separate commemorations without treating their shared keyword as the whole history.
The Tennessee example is graded very good minus. That condition may be quite acceptable when the aim is to represent the state’s anniversary design, especially if the distinctive wording remains the principal interest. A display requiring uniformly clean faces would place more emphasis on the exact specimen.
DAZ’s “s” suffix denotes the sticker year. Read in that way, the Tennessee offer sits comfortably beside the Missouri statehood example while the Montana stock returns attention to the national anniversary. The collector’s table supplies a route through those separate subjects, allowing the group to grow through deliberate commemorative contrasts instead of another plate chosen only because its date reads 1976.
3. Automobile License Plate Store
Automobile License Plate Store explicitly identifies an Indiana Bicentennial example in its 1976 inventory. That named variant is the reason to search the merchant for this project. A year filter alone could return plenty of plates whose date is correct but whose design does not serve the intended commemorative comparison.
The dealer’s state and year organization can be helpful once a collector has chosen the anniversary and wants to locate a particular issue. Begin with the named Bicentennial offer, then examine the condition and quantity attached to that product. The store’s broader practice of selling expired collectibles gives the purchase an appropriate collecting context.
4. RusticPlates
RusticPlates offers a 1976 Nebraska Bicentennial design attributed to Dixon County. Its supply format is important: the image is representative and the registration letters and numbers can vary. The purchase is a specimen of that offered design, not a reservation of the photographed serial.
For a design-based Bicentennial group, that flexibility can be entirely reasonable. The buyer gains the Nebraska representation without making an incidental number part of the requirement. A collector pursuing a specific serial or an exact pictured wear pattern needs a different arrangement.
5. Plate Dog
Plate Dog’s Illinois inventory makes the condition and completeness choice visible within one national Bicentennial design. Current 1976 listings include separate numbered singles and pairs, including pair HW9455. Instead of immediately moving to another state, a collector can decide which physical version of the Illinois contribution belongs in the group.
A single may be sufficient for a wall arrangement with one face per design. A pair can be preferable when the collecting unit is the complete offered set, even if only one member will normally be displayed. The dealer states that the photographs show the actual items supplied, so this is a comparison of particular offers.
6. Brandywine General Store
Brandywine General Store supplies a clearly identified Oklahoma 1976 national Bicentennial plate, with commemorative wording and the 1776-1976 interval described on the design. The store offers several condition selections, including unused-stock grades and a lightly used option.
This gives a buyer a direct budget-versus-condition decision within one design. The important qualification is that the photographs represent the condition classes; they are not a promise of the precise numbered plate shown. A collector can choose the stated grade while accepting that the individual serial may differ.
Oklahoma’s printed 1776-1976 interval also brings the national anniversary into direct view beside Missouri’s statehood dates. That comparison can carry the display even when the supplied Oklahoma serial differs from the illustration. The grade selection is therefore enough for a design-led purchase, while a collector interested in one particular worn survivor would have a different requirement and might prefer Plate Dog’s individually photographed Illinois stock.
7. LicensePl8s.com
LicensePl8s.com illustrates the long life a commemorative base can have. Its current Virginia product is titled as a 1985 passenger plate, number 293 508, on the Bicentennial base. That later date does not remove the design from an anniversary collection; it changes the story the specimen can tell within it.
The aluminum Virginia plate belongs to the part of the collection concerned with a commemoration’s afterlife. Its later listed date lets the design appear beyond the initial anniversary moment, beside the more directly dated 1976 examples above. The actual dating marks need to agree with the purchase description, but the later date itself is a reason for interest rather than a reason to exclude the object.
For timing, the seller’s September notice distinguishes its two fulfillment locations: Sudbury, Massachusetts, shipments are delayed until October 5, while Virginia shipments continue. The Virginia issuing state is not enough to establish which location holds this item. Resolve that detail if the purchase is intended for a dated display or collector exchange.
8. Tracy Performance
Tracy Performance offers a particular used Michigan Bicentennial pair, PCN-158. The listing identifies the 1976 design, specifies two twelve-by-six-inch plates, and notes a 1977 sticker. It is a neatly bounded example of an anniversary object with later validation evidence.
The pair is the attraction, not the retailer’s broader automotive-parts business. A buyer seeking a complete two-plate purchase can assess the pictured objects together, while the sticker supplies a concrete reason to keep the design year separate from subsequent use. The listing also publishes a continental-US shipping charge, allowing the delivered cost to be considered before ordering.
9. License Plate Collecting.com
The Virginia George Washington Bicentennial offer at License Plate Collecting.com is listed with 1976 and 1999 dating and serial 220 007. Its condition notes disclose sheeting wear. This gives a collector another later-dated survivor, this time with a surface issue that can affect the graphic itself.
Choose this merchant when the collection has room for evidence of continued use and the particular commemorative design remains readable enough for the intended purpose. A pristine-design display may call for a different specimen. The disclosed wear makes that decision more concrete than a generic statement that an old plate has age-related marks.
Compared with LicensePl8s.com’s 1985 Virginia offer, this later-dated candidate places more emphasis on the survival of a particular surface. The disclosed sheeting wear may show clearly in the graphic that prompted the purchase. That creates a choice between representing the commemorative design as cleanly as possible and retaining an individually described used object, without assuming the two listed years supply a continuous ownership history.
10. Legends Sports & Games
Legends Sports & Games offers a Michigan 1976 Bicentennial set of two plates in a paper sleeve, listed with new condition. The Grand Rapids retailer therefore provides a different buying format from Tracy Performance’s explicitly used, numbered pair.
The sleeve can be part of the attraction for someone who likes to preserve the way an object was stored or supplied. Keep it with the set and record the retailer’s condition description. The short listing does not, by itself, establish an uninterrupted storage history or guarantee a particular pair of matching numbers; confirm those details if they are essential to the project.
This is a narrow recommendation for a collector who specifically wants the sleeved two-plate format. It complements the used-pair option rather than replacing it. The two retailers let a buyer choose how the Michigan Bicentennial design will be represented physically, with the actual contents of the selected offer determining the purchase.
Put two dates on the collecting label
A useful display label can name the anniversary first and the particular plate’s listed or visible date second. That small discipline prevents a 2020 Missouri object celebrating 2021 from looking like an error, and it allows a later-stickered national Bicentennial plate to remain intelligible beside a 1976 example.
Decide whether the collection aims to represent designs, used specimens, or complete offered pairs. Representative stock may be enough for the first purpose; exact photographs and quantity become more decisive for the other two. With those choices settled, the dealers above offer several ways to build a commemorative group whose dates and physical objects tell the same clear story.
Source note: Dealer product pages, condition and quantity descriptions, and applicable fulfillment terms were reviewed in September 2026. Seller descriptions are attributed. The comparison covers collectible purchases and does not assess registration eligibility or claim independent authentication.
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