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Rare single-letter number plate sells for £1.45MILLION18-Feb-2025

A rare single-letter number plate has been sold for £1.45million in Hong Kong. 

The number plate, which just has the letter 'S' on it, was one of 49 number plates up for grabs at the annual Lunar New Year auction held by the city state's Transport Department today. 

While bidding opened at just HK$5,000 (£510), a prospective bidder made the price surge to HK$8million (£820,000), before it was eventually sold at HK$14.2million (£1.45million). 

 

The 'S' number plate went for so much money due to its association with the DC character Superman, who wears the letter on his chest, according to Hong Kong-based insurance broker Automate Wealth Management. 

The firm told the South China Morning Post that it expected the 'S' plate to sell for HK$10million. 

Another number plate, which had the number 88 on it, went for HK$11.4million (£1.16million) in a bidding war that lasted for 13 straight minutes. 

In Chinese culture, the number 8 is associated with the word 'fortune'. 

Last year, one driver handed over a small fortune after being the successful bidder on the 'luckiest' number plates, 888-888.

 

The highly sought-after plates (pictured) went to the winning bidder who spent $230,000

An anonymous buyer placed the winning bid of $230,000 on the custom Victorian number plates at an auction. 

The 888-888 plates have not changed hands for 30 years. 

The lucky plates sold for almost five times more than the ritzy Mercedes-Benz CL600 V12 they had adorned.

The auction had fierce bidding with buyers present in-room, on phones and online, with it ultimately being fought out by two bidders. 

The auction house Donington told Daily Mail Australia the sale set a record for custom numerical plates in Victoria. 

The previous top amount, which was set in 2022, was for the plates '911-911' which sold for $53,000.

Donington director Cameron Sabine said custom plates are now considered an 'astute investment' with the number eight very popular.

'In numerical plates eight is sought after and with these plates [888-888] they are going to be the bees knees because you can't get anymore 'eights' than that,' he said.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14403487/rare-single-letter-number-plate-dash-auction.html

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