to echo what Cess said about Europe, while all countries here require the front plate, some in the past were wise enough to make it less obtrusive.
I was aways envious of Italian front plates that were very small, thus much less noticeable than those from other countries. Also, Belgium and Luxembourg used to have smaller sizes than elsewhere. Unfortunately, the EU unification craze did not miss the opportunity to impose that member states have the same size… obviously being the largest possible one
and put on both ends of the car.
BTW, T think that the best looking plates used to be those from Monaco, but then their rarity has been in direct relation to the size of the country… No idea what is the present situation as technically, Monaco is not part of the EU.
Some EU countries have adopted special rules for vintage cars, evidenced by specific plates. In Poland these have yellow background (as opposed to white in general case). There is also a vintage car sketched on the plate, which I find amusing but of questionable relevance to Pagodas and other Porches that have more contemporaneous features than that.