Last week I wrote about a Mt. Pleasant man who had collected the license plates from all 50 states (although there seems to be a question about whether his “Alaska plate” is really from Alaska.)  I was quick to get a call from a Moulton, IA man, way down in Appanoose County, who has all the license plates for Appanoose County, from 1904 (the year vehicles were first registered) to 2004, a hundred year’s worth.

Tracey Corder is 92 years young.  I asked him why he stopped collecting Appanoose County tags after 100 years.  With a cackle, he said he was going to live to be a hundred, by golly.  I believe he will.  His son, Butch, and grandson, Rusty, look after him, and help with his license plate collection.

How did he get started collecting Appanoose County plates?  A garage was being tore down, and the owner had about 20 Appanoose County tags tacked up on the wall.  Tracey asked him what he was going to do with the plates.  When the man indicated that he was going to throw the tags out, Tracey went to work taking them down.  The rest of the collection, he found, took off his own vehicles, traded for, bought at auctions, or stole.  A friend of his was hunting, and found an old license plate out in the timber.  He asked Tracy if he wanted it.  “You betcha,” said Tracey.