1991 Celebrate & Discover Baseplate

Issued August 1991 Through November 2000; Presently Still In Use

1991	1992	1993
1994	1995	1996

1997	1997

1998	1999	2000

The 1991 base includes no permanent year designation and was issued only for new registrations; there was never a general reissuance with this base. General-issue passenger car plates are numbered from 501-751 through somewhere in the 850-000 series, the highest observed number being 853-040. Numbers could have been issued as high as 925-000, but a change in the numbering format was made prior to reaching that point.

In late April 1997 the standard auto plate configuration was changed to two letters followed by four numbers beginning at AA-0000, and the position of the slogan and jurisdiction name was reversed. Although the highest observed number is AY-8223, Celebrate & Discover plates were probably numbered through AY-9999. Click here to see examples of plates of most two-letter series issued from April 1997 through Nov. 2000 and to learn during which months during this period plates of each two-letter series were distributed.

At least one unusual manufacturing variety has been identified. Plates 828-734 (issued Nov. 1996) and AB-1634 (issued July 1997) are made with the standard fully-reflective graphic sheeting. However, number AA-4847 (issued June 1997 and pictured below) was made on plain white reflective sheeting, with the graphic elements (Washington, D.C., Celebrate & Discover, the two horizontal red stripes, and the D.C. flag graphic) silk-screen printed. Therefore, these features are not reflective, as they are on plates made with graphic sheeting. If through future inspection it is found that the highest all-number plates were made with graphic sheeting and the lowest AA-series plates were made with plain white sheeting and silk-screened graphics, it will be reasonable to conclude that modified graphic sheeting (with the flag moved to the left) was simply unavailable when the decision to change the numbering format was made. (It is worth mentioning, however, that non-passenger plates made for many years have included the flag offset to the left. Whether the graphic's location on non-passenger plates is the same as required on AB-1234 format auto plates is unknown.)

It appears that dated security marks were replaced with coded ones when this base was introduced. The security mark on plate 583-398, a relatively early 1991 base, is BOR3. Mark codes in this format, three letters (the first of which is always B) followed by the number 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, were used on plates of other jurisdictions, as well. Other coded marks observed are BMH4 (on no. 682-052), BPC2 (720-200), BLN2 (805-541), BAA3 (828-734), BIN2 (AA-4847), BIO2 (AB-1634), and BTR3 (AO-1213). Click here to read about the meaning of these codes.

Optional two-year registrations were first offered in 1992, a change reflected in the following table of reflective stickers issued to validate 1991 baseplates:

Later stickers have been used to revalidate plates of this base until the issuance of plate stickers ceased in 2002.

1991-2000 Registration Numbers

Our assumptions as to general-issue passenger car registration numbers assigned while the 1991 baseplate was being issued, assuming a one-year registration term, are presented in this table.

About the Celebrate & Discover Design

The change to the D.C. plate slogan was the result of an advertising campaign that was announced in July 1990. According to a Washington Post article of that month, after sifting through about 5,000 tourism slogan suggestions made by the public, the winner chosen was “Celebrate The City-Discover The World!” The announcement was made in conjunction with celebrations planned for the following year, when in September the District would mark its 200th anniversary. (Separate commemorative City Bicentennial graphic plates were offered at an extra cost, and are still in use.) The new slogan was shortened to Celebrate & Discover for use on license plates. “I think we definitely need the new image” said an official of the local convention and visitors bureau. At the time, Mayor Marion Barry was on trial on 14 drug-related charges and the city's high homicide rate was known across the country. Tourism was down 17% in 1989 as compared with the previous year, and industry officials pointed to the city's reputation as a crime capital as having contributed to the change.

Retirement of the Earliest 1991 Baseplates

As discussed more fully on our 1984 baseplate page, in April 2016 the DMV replaced all six-number plates still then in use, which include all remaining Capital City plates as well as the earliest Celebrate & Discover plates. Because the switch to general-issue registrations in the AB-1234 format was made in April 1997, the oldest auto plates presently in use are now those with the earliest two-letter combinations, beginning with AA-0000. No 1991 baseplates with all-number combinations should still be in use but when the change was accomplished the DMV allowed motorists to keep their old plates if they wanted them, so it's possible that a few have changed back to their older plates despite the DMV's intention that they no longer be used.

		New flat plates with old all-number registrations appeared suddenly in April 2016 when a concerted replacement effort was undertaken by the DMV. Affected were all remaining six-number plates then still in use, the oldest of which were Capital City plates issued beginning in late 1984. Both of these numbers were originally made on Celebrate and Discover plates. No. 665-392 is an original 1994 registration and no. 846-205 was assigned in 1997.

1991 Baseplate Types

Only types of which we have found examples are pictured. Images of plates of additional types will be added to this array as they become available.

Passenger - General-Issue	Pass. - Reserved Number	Pass. - Personalized
Bus	D.C. Government	Hire (Taxi)
Handicapped Person	Temporary	Sample

	This page last updated on December 31, 2017
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