Victorian number plate sells for almost $2.3 million

Shannons auctions regularly offer up a smorgasbord of classic cars going under the hammer, and the latest iteration was no exception.

But headline news from the last Shannons Timed Online Auction that closed on May 24 involved a number plate.

Not just any plate, but one of just 90 two-digit Victorian Heritage plates in circulation. The plate, numbered ’14’ to be specific, sold for the frankly staggering sum of $2,275,500.

To get some context for its crazy appreciation, the ’14’ plate last changed hands for a mere $75,000 at the 1988 Shannons Motor Show Auction.

The high-water mark for one of the two-digit Victorian Heritage plates was $1.1m for number ’26’ at Shannons Autumn Auction in March 2020, so this is quite a record-breaker.

While the ’14’ plate is currently not in use, photos from 2014 show the unique enamel plate on a burgundy Bentley Arnage saloon. As you’d damn well expect.

It doesn’t set the Australia record however. The all-time high price paid for an Australian plate was $2.45 million for NSW number ‘4’ at a Shannons auction in 2017.