SOLD! ‘NSW 1’ fetches millions, rewrites record books

The auction for Australia’s most sought-after number plate, NSW 1, has ended with a winning bid of… $11,505,000 plus 7.5 per cent buyer’s premium.

That amount smashes the previous Australian record for a number plate auction, which has stood since 2017 at $2.45 million for ‘NSW 4’.

Auctioned by Lloyds, NSW 1 wasn’t the only plate to rake in big bucks today. Queensland’s ‘Q1’ plate changed hands for $5,655,000 plus buyer’s premium, with that figure also setting a new Aussie record for a double-digit plate.

Q1 last sold in 1985 for $100,000 making today’s result a tidy investment for its previous owner, Brisbane’s ‘hair king’ Stefan Ackerie.

The story to here

December 2023: Hitting public auction for the first time in over 110 years, the price of rare "NSW 1" number plates will break records.

The Lloyds Auction House [↗] listing describes the set as "the most sought-after Heritage Plate in Australia" and bidding has already crested $8.04 million at the time of publishing with 43 days remaining on the auction.

The current Australian number plate price record was set by NSW 4 which sold for $2.45 million in 2017, ahead of Vic 14 which saw the hammer at $2,270,500 in 2020. This will shatter both records.

Lloyds calls the auction a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, noting that such valuable plates are typically kept within families when they change hands. We'll find out just how much NSW 1 is worth when the auction ends at 9:00am AEDT on 27 January 2023.

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Photo of NSW 1, 2, and 3 fitted to cars in 1937. Credit: www.numberplates.com.au

Estimated values are one thing, with Peter Bartels' VIC 1 plate's value estimated at up to $10 million last year, but NSW 1 is even more special because it's not been listed for public sale in over a century and hasn't been spotted since the 1980s.

Issued to the first NSW Police Commissioner, they were acquired by Sir Frederick Stewart in the 1930s, according to a 2006 Sydney Morning Herald article [↗], who was a railwayman turned bus company owner and founding chairman of Australian National Airways.

He passed away in 1961 when the NSW 1 plate was fitted to his Oldsmobile. His widow Lady Majorie Stewart transferred the rare enamel white-on-black plates to her 1981 Ford Fairmont Ghia LTD, alegedly declining an offer of $200,000 (around $500,000 today) to purchase them in 1988.

She passed in 2000 and left hope that the plates would be available, that wasn't to be the case until now.

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Photo from the 1980s with NSW 1 and ACT 1 plates pictured together Credit: www.numberplates.com.au

Heritage enamel plates with white numbers on black backgrounds are extremely sought-after, especially for single-digit examples.

It's likely that NSW 1 will breach $10 million for its final sale price, and it could even set a global record. The current holder is UAE plate 1, which sold for 52.2 million Dirham in 2008, equivalent to around A$14.5 million at the time or $20.5 million today.

After laying dormant for the last 23 years, enthusiasts will be keen to see the plates fitted to a moving vehicle again, whatever the price.