NSW number plate sells for over $1.5 million at auction

A historic two-digit heritage New South Wales number plate has sold at auction for over $1.5 million overnight.

The ‘70’ number plate had been estimated to sell between $1.5 and $1.8 million on auction site Lawsons but sold for $1,580,000 when the hammer fell at 7:00 pm on 19 September.

According to the auction site, the original number plate has been in possession of “one prominent Sydney family” for over a century, having first been circulated around 1920.

The over-100-year-old plate is manufactured on pressed metal and shows signs of age and wear, but the new owner can pay Service NSW to remanufacture an updated enamel plate.

MORE: Number plates NSW ‘1’ and Queensland ‘Q1’ sell for millions, smashing records

While the ‘70’ plates sold within the expected range and are close to the median Sydney house price of $1,594,582 million from the end of last year according to Domain, it is still significantly more affordable than the Australian record.

Sold earlier this year, the NSW-plated ‘1’ sold for $11,505,000, while the Queensland ‘Q1’ set sold for $5,655,000 at the same time.

This high-priced number plate trend continued this year, with the Victorian ‘14’ plates selling for $2,270,500 in May.

Before 2024, the Australian record for a number plate sold at auction was held by the NSW ‘4’ set sold for $2.45 million in 2017.