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Johannesburg - Some of the rarest and most unique Gauteng number plates will be auctioned in South Africa later in November.
The auction, 'South Africa’s most valuable number plates' by Stephan Welz & Co, features eight Gauteng personal registration plates.
These are “the rarest and most unique 8 single digit Gauteng number plates,” says the auctioneer. Some of the plates include 'Mandela GP' and '1 GP'. See the full list at the end of the article.
The auction will take place from November 22-23 2016 at Stephan Welz & Co, Nelson Mandela Square, Sandton.
Prized plates
The 'Mandela GP' plate was owned by a private collector and is expected to go under the hammer from R250 000.
Rosewitz estimates that the plate '1-GP' could fetch R1-million and that the collection as a whole will sell for at least R2-million. Stephan Welz & Co sold licence plate 'CA 3' in Cape Town for R378 000 a few years ago.
With Gauteng having the largest motoring population and highest concentration of wealth in the country, says the auctioneer, GP special numbers are in high demand. Astute investors already having secured as much as R500 000 for desirable number combinations.
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500 000 personalised plates in SA
South Africa is following the international trend in which personalised number plates have become prized possessions with growing status, social and investment value. More than 500 000 personalised plates have been sold in South Africa, exceeding the most optimistic projections by the Department of Transport, which has generated more than R500-million in revenue from people who pay a premium to buy their special numbers.
READ: 10 things you should know about number plates in SA
Personal plates in demand globally
In the United Kingdom, the number plate K1NGS has sold for £231 000 (R3.9mn, est.) and RR1 for £75 000.
As far back as 1989 in New Zealand, the single character number plate '1' sold at the first auction of its kind for NZ$34 100. In 1991 it was resold for NZ$111 375 and in 1995 resold again for a staggering NZ$630 000.
The world record for a number plate was set in 1994 in Hong Kong with the sale of the number plate "8" for $1-million.
View the plates below:
