S1 Number Plate Sells at Auction for £400,000

The UK car registration number S 1 sold today at a sale held by Bonhams the auctioneers at the Goodwood Revival Festival. The full price paid was £404,062.50, a figure far in excess of the £250,000 that had been the amount mentioned in press speculation before the sale.

S 1 was one of the first number plates issued in Edinburgh. It was initially released in 1903, the same year as the first issue of the legendary A 1 plate in London. The first owner of S1 was Sir John MacDonald, Lord Justice Clerk of Scotland, who was one of the country's first motor vehicle owners.

The price paid for the S1 registration makes it the second most expensive registration in the history of British private number plates. The holder of the UK record is currently F 1, which was purchased in January by businessman Afzal Kahn of automotive styling studio Project Kahn.

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