By the way, you're not in some sort of prison where you have access to this equipment are you?

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I knew somebody, okay you..would ask me that. Very funny! I am not nor have I ever been to the big house (or little house for that matter!) Anyway..to get to the original concern of cost..you are right about quantity would drive the price down, but would also make the concern of authenticity vs. reproduction an issue. By making them cheaper it makes them more available to the masses that could possibly be misconstrued as the real thing. There are people out there who can "age" just about anything and attempt to make look old. I've seen it, some very good and some very bad!! Laser etching on the back could very well identify them as reproduction. I have no problem with that. They could be made on a case by case basis and not sold in "lots" to one person. I have access to the tooling as a favor to me, by someone who works in the industry here in Oregon, that makes plates for Oregon and many othere States. The manufacturing of the dies will be done by your's truly, which will be time consuming, since my CNC machine was old and out-dated before it was inundated with water and rendered scrap! So the old days of set-and-forget machining are long gone until I can come with $40,000++ play money to replace it! It is not my intention to get rich or even make loads of money doing this, merely a "niche" service to club members who want them to genuinely have them for their collection or replace something that is "lost". I do this with the 1959 Pontiac MSRP window stickers I restored for another club I belong to. 75+ hours to "restore" and old document back to original appearance. I make no money from them..just providing a service for a rare item no longer available. However, like the rest of us, my time is valuable, and I think worth something (that's how I justify it to my Wife, anyway!!) providing help to others. Can anyone tell me if the plates are painted on the back or bare aluminum? Some aluminum plates were coated with either Dk. Gray or Dk. Brown anti corrosion paint on the backs.