There’s no doubt that watching a live auction is an exhilarating experience. But that’s usually when the hammer is going down in the room and on that day. For the auction of Australia’s most desirable number plate — NSW 1 — there’s already been the same level of frenzied bidding, despite the fact there’s more than a month left before the online sale concludes.
For context, the previous auction record for an Aussie number plate was NSW 4 in 2017 ($2.45 million). That’s a tenth of the world-record price for a number plate. Having officially opened for bidding around four hours ago, the price for NSW 1 surpassed $5 million after just three hours, hit $6.6 million another 30 minutes later, and at the time of writing, is up to around $8 million.
The history of NSW 1 is a rather interesting one. First issued to the NSW State Police Commissioner in 1910 before making its way to Sir Frederick Stewart sometime in the 1930s, it’s been in the possession of the latter’s widow, Lady Marjorie Stewart, since his passing circa 1961. Lady Marjorie Stewart would later be offered $200,000 for it in 1981, which she promptly declined in favour of keeping it in the family.
Of course now, the aforementioned family has opted to offload the coveted number plate online via the team at Lloyd’s Auctioneers; with the Australian sales record already being in the bag after less than half a working day. Considering how quickly the bids have already climbed upwards with 43 days and 20 hours left on the proverbial clock, there’s a very good chance the NSW 1 number plate could sell for upwards of eight figures.
