Possibly the most common collectible mini license plate issues are the Wheaties issues of 1953 and 1954. Experienced collectors end up wading through these looking for other plate issues that are less common (as most are). One thing most of them miss is something I rather accidentally located going through a group batch of Wheaties plates I bought because the lot contained 1955 plates from Leader Novelty & Candy Co. from Brooklyn, N.Y.
After receiving the lot I thumbed through the Wheaties plates in the lot and noticed what was apparently a Wheaties Massachusetts plate with a 1954 date, but oddly, it was not embossed as expected. I set the plate aside thinking it was a Wheaties plate that missed the embossing step during production.
It was a different lot a few months later that started my quest for something entirely different. I bought another lot of Wheaties plates because there was a Leader plate in that lot too. Any experienced collector who sees a lot full of plates - one of which is a Leader plate - will buy them in a hurry to get that one rare piece.
When that lot showed up a couple of weeks later, I was pleasantly surprised to find what appeared to be a close match for a 1954 Wheaties Delaware plate, but it too had no embossing. After observing this plate I noted that this one was much different - on purpose - from the Wheaties plate it closely resembled. It was printed in only two colors, black and white. The Wheaties Delaware plate for 1954 was printed in five colors. This is when it dawned on me that there was no way both plates were printed with the same plates.
A side note to help with understanding this story, J. L. Clark Manufacturing Co. of Rockford, Illinois, has been proven to be the manufacturer of all the General Mills Wheaties plates as well as the 1959 Baker's Chocolate plates. All of these plates were made using the same basic technique and were made with the same gauge of steel. It is yet unproven, thus unknown, who made the 1955 Leader Candy set of plates. There is no surviving documentation to the effect that I have ever seen, and my research into this spans years.
Backing up, I had two Northeastern plates that were made with the same process, were NOT 1954 Wheaties plates, and came in a lot with Leader plates. I jumped to the assumption - which ultimately was my final conclusion - that I had found plates that were made as prototypes by J. L. Clark to be given to the Leader Novelty & Candy Co. showing them what they were to receive if a contract for order were consumated.
From my assumptions I arrived that these two plates were alike not only in their style of manufacture, but that both matched states that were in the Wheaties "Eastern States" set of 12 plates. That led me to hunt on eBay for similarly made plates for Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, and others.
It was then that I located an image on the internet of over a dozen Leader Candy plates that had been offered and sold as a lot. Interestingly, there was ONE 1954 Wheaties plate with a Vermont design that, based on common characteristics, I determined to be a member of this "prototype" set for Leader. Although the Vermont plate may never cross my desk, my basis of thought that these were prototypes made for Leader Candy and were Eastern States plates, I dove into a search for the others.
Same day, an hour later, I am rifling through eBay when I found a 1954 Connecticut plate. I quickly determined that this was yet another one of those prototypes. It was flat, had two holes at the top like the others, was printed in two colors (black and white again), and within a millisecond was mine at the click of a button.
When that plate arrived I was quickly able to match it up with the Delaware and Massachusetts plates I already had. My theory and assumption was even more solidified that these were Leader prototypes.
Let's review: we have three plates and a photo of a fourth that match all the following: They are the same size as Wheaties plates, they have art that very closely mirrors Wheaties plates, they are flat, they are printed in two colors, and their art is slightly different from Wheaties plates - just enough to tell these were not the same designs used on the printing plates for the Wheaties set. They are also Eastern State "stumpy" plates, These are the plates that in the Wheaties set are noarrower side to side than most of the other plates in the set.
All of these plates save one were found together with rare Leader Candy plates. There is very little chance that this fact is coincidence. Finding what appear to be unique pieces with very rare pieces of a slightly different style is probably a one in a million chance...and this happened four times.
In conclusion, I am still looking to acquire the others in what I believe to be a short set of very rare prototype 1954 plates assumably given to Leader Candy as prototypes, which were in turn put in collections or - more likely - given to children as toys. If all follows the same pattern I have seen, there should be one out there of New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Maine. These are the only four Eastern State plates that are the same size as the prototype plates found. Let me know if you get lucky.
