Yahoo Finance 'Luckiest' number plate sells for $230,000
The number ‘8’ is considered lucky in Chinese culture, making them highly prized for many collectors.
Victoria’s “luckiest” number plate has sold for an eye-watering $230,000, more than quadrupling the previous record for the state.
The ‘888-888’ number plate - which has been privately owned for the past 30 years - was bought by an anonymous buyer through Donington Auctions.
The unique number plate ended up selling for significantly more than the 2003 Mercedes-Benz CL600 V12 they were on at auction, which sold for $51,000.
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Donington Auctions’ Cameron Sabine said the numeral ‘8’ was considered lucky in Chinese culture, making it a highly prized item for collectors.
“Having an ‘8’ within a registration plate sequence has become the digit of choice among number plate collectors, both for its luck and - in the case of this particular plate - its symmetrical format,” Sabine said.
“So, we weren’t hugely surprised that it sold so well and were very pleased to have eclipsed the previous record by so much.”
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The number plate smashed the record for custom numerical plates in Victoria, which was previously set when ‘911-911’ plates sold for $53,000 in 2022.
Number plate fetches $11.5 million
Heritage number plates have become a favourite among collectors, with one anonymous buyer spending a record $11.5 million on a historic ‘NSW-1’ number plate last month.
This made it the most expensive number plate to sell in Australia, with the ‘NSW-4’ number plate selling at auction for $2.45 million in 2017.
The plate was originally issued to the vehicle of the state’s first police commissioner and this was the first time in more than 110 years that it was offered via public auction.
The most expensive number plate sold in the world was in 2008, when the United Arab Emirates registration ‘1’ sold for the equivalent of $20.5 million.
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