Professionally manufactured metal plate is embossed using special dies that raise the characters allowing a high quality finish to be hot stamped on to the aluminum plates. All of our items are sold as stock items with no customizing--we do change the last couple numbers to keep a random authentic plate. You might also consider a universal mounting frame (0858483002093) or the German plate, frame & hardware package (B00A6Z59DM). Our German license plates are imported direct from the factory in Germany. We use the same equipment to make our plates and even use the same font that is used on German plates. In short, they are authentic.