AFP, Sydney :
A black-and-white number plate with the single digit “4” has sold at a Sydney auction for a record-breaking near US$2.0 million, reportedly to a Chinese-Australian sex toy entrepreneur.
The sale shattered pre-sale estimates of up to Aus$1.5 million, with the auction hammer coming down at Aus$2.45 million-more than twice the average cost of a Sydney home.
“Just nine of these New South Wales number plates were ever issued, making them ultra-collectible and irreplaceable,” said Shannons auction manager Christophe Boribon.
“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.”
The auction house refused to reveal who the buyer was, but the Sydney Morning Herald said it was Chinese-Australian billionaire Peter Tseng, who made his fortune in sex toys.
It said he arrived at the Sydney auction on Monday evening in his red Ferrari bearing a No.2 licence plate.
A black-and-white number plate with the single digit “4” has sold at a Sydney auction for a record-breaking near US$2.0 million, reportedly to a Chinese-Australian sex toy entrepreneur.
The sale shattered pre-sale estimates of up to Aus$1.5 million, with the auction hammer coming down at Aus$2.45 million-more than twice the average cost of a Sydney home.
“Just nine of these New South Wales number plates were ever issued, making them ultra-collectible and irreplaceable,” said Shannons auction manager Christophe Boribon.
“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.”
The auction house refused to reveal who the buyer was, but the Sydney Morning Herald said it was Chinese-Australian billionaire Peter Tseng, who made his fortune in sex toys.
It said he arrived at the Sydney auction on Monday evening in his red Ferrari bearing a No.2 licence plate.
