The stamped metal license plate "1" was assigned by the Illinois Secretary of State to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Chicago limousine for decades until 1968. My father was a Chicago police officer and detective who in 1957 took a second job moonlighting as the Cardinal's driver/bodyguard. My family lived in the coach house behind the Cardinal's Residence on Chicago's Gold Coast for 25 years until 1982 when my father retired. Each year, my dad would put the new license plate on the Cardinal's Cadillac and stow the old one away. He built a collection of 16 plates over the years and has at least one of every year from 1957 to 1968 with the exception of 1958. (He used to joke that some priest stole the 1958 plate right off the car!) In 1968, Cardinal John Cody decided the limo and plate were too ostentatious, and it was out of circulation until the early 1970s when it was put on a 1972 Chevy Vega belonging to former Governor Richard Ogilvie's family. I inherited my dad's collection and all 16 plates are in absolutely pristine condition. I've never wanted to sell them, but am considering it now. I am enclosing a couple of pictures of the plates along with one taken in 1967 of the 12-year-old me , my dog, and the limo during the Great Chicago Blizzard of '67. (I'm the one who looks like Ralphie from the movie "A Christmas Story". ) I would love to receive any information you might uncover. The plates are truly one of a kind, and the story behind them has a lot of promotional value. Although I pressed "Yes" below, I haven't, as yet, decided whether I want to sell (or auction them off). Therefore, I would like to keep this inquiry confidential for now. Thank you.

I don't have the specific measurements right now, but all are the size of a standard U.S. state license plate.