My Nova Scotia Licence
Plate Collection & Guide
Bill White, Lower Sackville, NS
THE MODERN or "BLUE ON WHITE" ERA: 1972 TO THE PRESENT
PART
2: NON-PASSENGER PLATES
Last updated Oct 15, 2024
Click here for Part
1: Plates most commonly used on automobiles and light trucks.
Click here for my
separate page for samples, individual specimens and concept plates.
Click here for
my page showing the official 2023 specimen set that includes ALL NS plate types.
Back to Licence Plate
Opening Page for my other licence plate pages.
Back to overall Marscan Opening Page
This page is best seen on your computer, not your phone.
The division of NS plates into eras is entirely my own device in order to aid in
presentation.
I have chosen to start the modern era with the introduction of "Blue on White"
for standard passenger plates and for many other plate types.
In this overall modern era there have for some types been several varieties as
dies and slogans change. I have tried to point out some of these but
for more detail you should join ALPCA
and access the archives curated by David Fraser.
Some detailed information is also available at All About License Plates , open to the general public.
COMMERCIAL
This plate type had been
issued since 1920. |
First Batch 1972
Second batch 1974
1976 Red on white base
plate. This is a very
high number for this series. |
COMMERCIAL HALF YEAR
From the outset in 1972 these plates were red on white, i.e.
there was no blue on white issue of CX plates. |
1972 Type. Only known type in the modern era |
FARM TRACTOR
CLASS 1 (F) In 1979 the annual F and FX issues were replaced by a no expiry FT prefix issue (See next section) |
1972 Type four digit 1972 Type five digit
|
FARM TRACTOR
CLASS 2 (FX) In 1979 the annual F and FX issues were replaced by a no expiry FT prefix issue (See next section) |
1972 Type
This is the only known
type in the blue on white era |
FARM &
FISHER VEHICLE (FM) Farm truck plates were introduced in 1957, with the work Farm on the plate. In 1960 they were replaced by Farm or Fisherman plates, with an FM prefix. This series continues on very much unchanged from the previous era. While most of these appear on trucks of varying sizes, they can also be seen on the SUV's and similar passenger vehicles. |
1972 FM PLATE WANTED
1979 FM TYPE WITH VERTICAL FM
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General Tractor (GT) This type originated in the late 20's, and until 1959 used the prefix T. For 1960 this was changed to GT. The term General Tractor is ambiguous, but refers to all industrial wheeled and tracked equipment that might be on the public roads other than cars, trucks, trailers and farm equipment. |
1972 Type serials 1000 - 8899 1975 First variety with Horizontal GT Serials 8900 to 9999
Aluminum
Borderless with debossed edge since
approximately2012 |
TRAILER
This
long-standing type
|
Serials from T10-01 on the 1972 non reflective base
|
HEAVY TRAILER (TX ) Annual
and Half-Year stickers |
I need TX plates from this era and the previous era
|
Camper
Plates
Issued in pairs
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HEAVY
COMMERCIAL TYPE commencing in 1978
In 1978 the Red on white commercial plates were replaced
in two ways.
Plates were at first
issued in pairs, but from November 2005 only one has
been issued. |
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Prorated Power
Unit (PT) This type originated in around 1982 Initially was prefix PRP followed by 4 digits
When the
7-character limit
was reached this was replaced This in
turn was
replaced in turn in 1993 by the Open for Business
variety,
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Type 1 1982. Steel and rounded corners. Began with PRP 1000 or 1001.
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Permanent
Trailer PT
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Type 1. Began with PT1-00-00 or PT1-00-01. Steel and rounded corners
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FARM TRACTOR
AND OTHER WHEELED FARM EQUIPMENT (FT).
In 1979 the annual F and FX issues were replaced by a no expiry FT prefix issue. |
|
Restricted
For use on provincially or municipally owned vehicles. Note that federal government vehicles do not use these. Formerly were issued with a one-time fee of $20 with no renewal required. Since October 2002, have regular fees and renewals, therefore many eligible vehicles now use regular plates. Two types: flat, as produced by the government's sign shop, and embossed, produced by the Waldale facility. The sign shop type is on heavy aluminum, and supposedly was produced for use on trucks involved in salt application on the highways. |
It is
possible that these plates are now being issued in
the debossed borderless type.
|
Department of National Defence These are actually not Nova Scotia licence plates. They are internally issued by the Department. At first glance it appears that these plates are black on white with the red maple leaves. but in reality only numbers are black, with border and "Canada" being in dark green. These plates are used throughout Canada, and at this point I do not know the basis of the numbers used on them. Apparently these plates are produced as blanks, without the serial, which is applied in the form of plastic stickers on a local basis. Other federal government agencies and departments currently use regular Nova Scotia plates. I have been told that DND pays a fee to the province in lieu of paying for provincial plates. |
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THIS ENDS
THE CURRENT FULL-SIZE PLATES OF NOVA SCOTIA, OTHER
THAN SAMPLES, CONCEPT PLATES AND SPECIAL EVENT
PLATES, ALL OF WHICH ARE SHOWN IN SEPARATE PAGES. For smalls of various types, as well as add-on plates past and present, see below. These will be moved to a separate page in the future |
MOTORCYCLE AND
OTHER SMALLER VEHICLES Note that at this point I am not actively collecting these smaller plates, other than to, if possible, obtain one example of each type. |
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Motorcycle |
These two plates are in the collection of Rogelio Roger Flores and shown here with his permission. I am showing these here to confirm that in 1953 there were both types of MC plates: 52 with 53 tab, and actual 53 plates, just as with passenger plates. This is truly a great pair of plates. |
Note that Motorcycles and Campers are currently the only types in Nova Scotia with "all digits", and in fact the same number can conceivably be issued in both categories. |
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Motorcycle
Dealer Began approx 1920 |
NOT IN MY COLLECTION. SPECIMEN IMAGE ONLY. | ||
Motorcycle
Vanity Commenced June 2005 |
These plates are the same as regular mc plates. They have the same restrictions on choice as their full size counterparts, except that they have a maximum of six characters and/or spaces. | No image available | |
Motorcycle
Antique Commenced May 2013 |
Actual plates are all in the series A F001 to A F999 |
NOT IN MY COLLECTION. SPECIMEN IMAGE ONLY. | |
Motorcycle
Accessible Parking Commenced November 2014 |
This is a sample plate |
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Motorcycle
Veteran Commenced April 2017 |
NOT IN MY COLLECTION. SPECIMEN IMAGE ONLY. | ||
Motorcycle
Restricted Commenced 1974 |
These plates are seen on municipal police motorcycles. I estimate that at any given time there are only less than 20 of these active in the province. | NOT IN MY COLLECTION. SPECIMEN IMAGE ONLY. | |
Moped, | This is for motorcycle or motor scooter type vehicles not capable of 70 km/h when loaded, and under 50 cc engine. |
Commenced in 1975 but continues to be rare, as there really are not many vehicles that need to be registered at all that meet this criterion. |
NOT IN MY COLLECTION. SPECIMEN IMAGE ONLY. |
Off Highway
Vehicle
|
Note that the
two letter, three digit format is shared with the
Antique Motorcycle Category; however this latter type is allocated the AF001 to AF999 series only. |
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Off Highway
Vehicle Dealer
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NOT IN MY COLLECTION. SPECIMEN IMAGE ONLY. | ||
ADD-ON PLATES These are supplemental plates issued by other provincial agencies, or by local authorities. They are not strictly speaking Nova Scotia licence plates, but do constitute an interesting sub-area of collecting. I have a few examples to show here. Note that bicycle plates could also be shown here, as there is no other convenient spot for them. |
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Supplemental
Plates ("toppers") issued by Board of Public
Utilities (now the Utilities Review Board) from
about 1959 to 1981 and with at least a few types still
being issued today. These had prefix codes as follows, but it seems that this list is incomplete: F Freight Carrier G General Freight Hauler P Public Passenger Carrier GS General Specialty Freight PU Public Utilities Local Freight S Special Commodity Hauler SB School Bus SB-P Combined School and Public T Trailer X Operated Outside NS For colours and other information check at All About License Plates The
school bus variety of this plate type is still
currently |
FX does not appear in the list at left. It is either Freight operating outside NS, or Half-Year freight. If you can comment, please do! Note that this prefix is not on the list at the left. I am guessing that NP means Non-Public Passenger Carrier.
School
Bus 1982 |
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LOCAL JURISDICTION SMALL PLATES | |||
Bicycle | Many local jurisdictions registered bicycles, and issued small plates or stickers. | I am not collecting these | |
Military Base | Canadian Armed Forces bases across Canada commonly issued small plates to aid in recognition as vehicles approached the gates. Generally speaking there were different colours and/or prefixes for different categories of personnel. examples include Civilian employees, NCO's, Officers, Reservists, etc. |
In Nova Scotia there have
been plates issued over the years for bases in Halifax, Shearwater,
Mill Cove, Sydney, Greenwood, Debert. Most likely there would also have been plates issued for Barrington and Shelburne, and possibly also Newport Corner. These plates are now scarce or rare. While I do know they were in use in the 60's to 80's, I am not sure of the actual time span. They are no longer in use. This CFB Halifax plate from 1982 is almost identical to the one I had on my car in 1973. As far as I recall, the green indicated a commissioned officer, and other colours were also in use. Furthermore, I do not know if plates were re-issued each year, and with the same colours, or if the year indicated the year of issue and the plate was kept into subsequent years. |
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Taxi/Limousine | Many towns and other local authorities have issued taxi plates. More commonly in the modern era they are issued with stickers for the bumper or window. |
Although I do not collect
these taxi plates, I have this one in the collection, |