SAMPLE license plates are usually manufactured by the issuing authorities for use mainly by federal, state and local government agencies in order to familiarize themselves with newly issued plate designs.
Numerous Motor Vehicles Administration Offices across the nation have nice displays of sample license plates. Contact your local Motor Vehicles Department for additional information.
Today, many states and provinces also offer SAMPLEs to license plate collectors for their educational and research purposes.
There is an excellent web site which is being maintained by collector Greg A. Glaude, which lists addresses of all U.S. and Canadian Motor Vehicles agencies for obtaining sample license plates. Click here to visit his web site.