First issue/Last issue: 1939 / 1986? • Created from: Passenger • Size: Passenger • Colors: Standard
Simultaneous to the MD plates, a parallel series of plates were issued to physicians from as early as 1939. They all feature the prefix OP.But what distinguised a physician from a medical doctor? Medical doctors are certified by the New York State Department of Education; could this be the distinction? How then would a physician become eligible for OP plates. The answer may come from a New York Times article, "MD, DA, HE-11, Etc.: These and other special auto licenses are adding up to $$$ for N. Y. in '55," by Peter White (Mar. 13, 1955). In it OP is identified as "osteopath".
In a similar vein, the Manlius (N.Y.) Thrift-News published this short piece on the front page of it's Feb. 2, 1939 issue:
OP ON LICENSE PLATES DOES NOT MEAN ONONDAGA “PEN”
Jamesville—If you see a car with license plates with the letters OP on them, remember that these letters are carried by Osteopathic Physicians, not by employees of the Ononodaga Penitentiary. The motor vehicle bureau has given notice of this new series.
For most years the plates are indistinguishable from other passenger plates. The Distribution list from 1939 lists OP-1 through OP-200 issued out of Albany. The allotment remained at 200 until 1950, when it was increased to 300. It remained at 300 through 1963.
The design changed in 1966 with the multi-year blue base plate, when the legend PHYSICIAN first appeared where NEW YORK appears on passenger plates. The highest registration probably was higher than 300 given the turnover of multi-year plates.
The design was carried forward onto the orange base plate in 1973. The OP-1 plate with the uniform height dies suggests the series was still in effect by the late 1970s. When the Liberty plates first appeared in 1986, there was no sign of the OP series, neither with a PHYSICIAN caption or, as would be expected, a stacked OP prefix or suffix.
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