Isle of Man Car Number Plate Sells For £100,000

On Friday 6th February, MN 1, a rare Manx number plate sold for £100,000 at an auction held at the Mount Murray Hotel and Country Club.

Isle of Man registrations started on 1st January 1906, following the introduction of the Highways Act Amendment Act 1905. At the time, they started with the letters 'MN' followed by up to four digits. In 1935, they started using the prefix MAN with up to four digits. It was in 1971 that unissued numbers from the original MN 1 to MN 9999 were issued. MN 1 was part of a collection which belonged to the late John Moore.

The price for MN 1 shocked everyone at the auction. The successful bidder has remained anonymous. This just goes to show how number plates are so resilient at a time of financial uncertainty.

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Another successful number plate auction

Last week saw another successful DVLA auction. It was one of the most publicised auctions and saw many camera crews and journalists covering the event. It seems at times when the financial world is in tatters, the investment interest in number plates just keeps growing.

The top 3 selling registrations were:

1 O - £210,242
1 HRH - £113,815
3 S - £94,035

Both 1 O and 1 HRH went to anonymous phone bidders. Apparently, 1 O attracted both national and international millionaires, one of whom arrived by helicopter. The new owner of 1 O wishes their identity to remain a secret.

The Berkshire-based businessman who bought 1 HRH said he had been "determined to keep it in British hands". He added, “In my mind, there aren’t many registrations that can better 1 HRH. While bought as an investment, it will be placed on one of my cars.”

Venture capitalist Spencer Day was the successful bidder of 3 S. Mr Day said, “There’s no better time than at present to invest money in personalised registrations. While I have no immediate plans to sell it, I am confident 3 S will give me a healthy return on my investment.”

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