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Rare Personalised Number Plate VIC 1 Spotted

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Home | Articles | Rare Personalised Number Plate VIC 1 Spotted

Rare Personalised Number Plate VIC 1 Spotted

Rare Personalised Number Plate VIC 1 Spotted

The Victorian '1' personalised number plate is one of the most valuable and sought-after number plates in the world, with an estimated value of between $10 million and $20 million. It is currently owned by former Fosters' Group and Coles Myer chief executive Peter Bartels, who has reportedly rejected several offers of over $1 million for the plate.

Victorian '1' heritage plate.

The plate was first issued in 1906 and has only had a handful of owners since then. In 1984, it was sold at auction for $165,000, which is equivalent to over $570,000 in today's money. The plate has since changed hands several times, with each sale increasing its value.

The high value of the Victorian '1' heritage plate is due to a number of factors. Its low number and its long history make it a very desirable collectible. Additionally, the plate is seen as a status symbol and is often purchased by wealthy individuals who want to show off their wealth.

In recent years, there has been a growing demand for heritage number plates, with prices skyrocketing. In 2019, the Victorian '916' heritage plate sold for $108,000, while in 2022, the Victorian '14' heritage plate sold for a record $2.27 million.

The Victorian '1' heritage plate is a truly unique and valuable item, and it is unlikely that its value will decrease in the foreseeable future.

Here is a more detailed look at the history of the Victorian '1' heritage plate:

The plate was first issued in 1906.
It was originally reserved for government officials, but they could not agree on who should own it.
In the 1980s, the plate was auctioned off.
The first owner was retired mechanic Gary Price, who purchased it for $165,000 (inflation-adjusted $571,551).
The plate has since changed hands several times, with each sale increasing its value.
The current owner is believed to be Peter Bartels, the former CEO of Carlton & United Breweries and Fosters.
The plate has been heavily documented and photographed throughout its life.
It has been displayed on a variety of luxury vehicles, including a Mercedes-AMG E55, a Mercedes-AMG E63, and a Porsche 911 Turbo. 

How close a series of letters or numbers are to a real name of word: if the match quality is high (and the numbers and letters are very convincing in making a popular word), the value of the registration plate will be higher. This means that a match like 5IMON, for the name Simon, will be worth a lot more than a more obscure set of letters and numbers that are not as convincing a match, such as S17 MMM for the name Sam.

The style of the plate: this means establishing if it is a new-style plate, an older-style format or if it is dateless or Irish, for instance. Other options are that it is a prefix-style plate or a suffix-style plate. New-style number plates, which have been produced since 2001, tend to be the least valuable because they are a bit less appealing to some collectors, plus the rule about not having plates that are newer than your car can also come into play, putting people off from buying a newer-style plate for their older car. Prefix-style number plates, which were in production between 1983 and 2001 can be more popular as more vehicles are entitled to have those licence numbers, and they may have fewer characters in total. Suffix-style plates, issued from 1963 to 1983 are relatively rare, which means they can attract higher prices than prefix-style plates and newer designs. Dateless number plates, also known as cherished number plates, were produced between 1903 and 1963 and are nearly always the most valuable number plate configurations; they have fewer digits and their dateless nature means that people can hide the age of their car. Irish number plates are similar to dateless number plates, especially because they don’t have a year identifier. They also tend to be cheaper than other types of vehicle registration plates.

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