Tuvalu
General Information:
All the plates on the island are "owner-provided", so there exists no official format. Therefore it is very difficult to establish whetherthe plates are original or fakes that were "produced" by J.D.Applegate in the 1980s. The FTC 109 and FTC 151 (see below) are considered to be real ones. The collector that previously owned the FTC 75/90 (made on part of an old rubber tyre) claims having received this plate directly from the island, after a lenghty correspondence of 12 letters. Whereas other experts claim this plate is a fake, as to size and lettertype. So there is a lot of discussion on these plates. Any one interested can check out Drew Steitz's website www.pl8s.com/JDF/JDT.htm that is fully dedicated to fake plates.
Plates in my collection:
Passenger / Stencilled on wood / Formerly known as "Gilbert and Ellice Islands" / F.T.C. = Funafuti Town Council
Thin metal / FTC = Funafuti Town Council
Stencilled on wood / FTC = Funafuti Town Council
1986
Passenger / Stencilled on metal
FTC = Funafuti Town Council
The year is stencilled on the plate as a suffix.
Made on part of an old rubber tyre / FTC = Funafuti Town Council