Rare Oz Registration Plate Auctioned for Millions

A car-registration plate issued by the Australian state of New South Wales sells at auction for A$2.45 million ($1.95 million), more than triple the previous record.

Christophe Boribon, national auction manager-Shannon Auctions, says the black and white NSW plate with the number 4 was sold to a collector who was among the crowd of bidders in the Shannons showroom in Sydney.

The price smashed the previous auction record of A$689,000 ($549,148) paid for an NSW plate with the number 2 in 2003. It also eclipsed the presale guiding range of A$1.2 million-A$1.5 million ($957,000-$1.2 million).

The earliest use of the NSW 4 plate was in the early 1920s when it adorned a 1909 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost owned by Michelin tires importer Noris Duval. More recently it was on another Rolls-Royce, owned by Aussie Home Loans founder John Symond.

“Just nine of these New South Wales number plates were ever issued, making them ultra-collectible and irreplaceable,” Boribon says. “Their unique status and desirability is never going to change.

“The opportunity to acquire such a plate is exceptionally rare, as most single-digit plates remain in family hands, are usually passed down through generations and rarely, if ever, come onto the open market.”

Among other plates, 321 sold for a three-digit auction record of A$192,000 ($152,931), while the NSW motorcycle plate 999 fetched A$45,000 ($35,843).