The original NSW "4" license plate was sold on Monday night at a nationwide record price of A $2.45 million.
Australian Chinese wine collector and sex toy tycoon Peter Tseng bought the precious collection in front of more than 300 people at the 2017 (Shannons) Sydney Winter Classic auction in Shannon, and clapped his hands at the final sound.
Mr. Tseng, who came to the scene in a red Ferrari with a plate number 2, is a famous license plate collector.
His collection includes Hong Kong's "1" license plate and the new state's personalized license plate "ONE" for his 1969 Mercedes-Benz.
Mr. Tseng is believed to have bought the original 1910 "4" license plate from Steve Shelley.
Shelley is a co-founder of Deputy, a labor management software company, and the owner of the (Australian House of the Year) Burraneer luxury house "Nautilus", which won the Australian Housing of the year Award last year.
The "4" license plate was last seen on Shelley's two-cab minivan.
Its guiding price at Shannon's auction is between A $1.2 million and A $1.4 million.
After a start of A $1 million, the bid rose by A $ one hundred thousand between the two buyers until Mr. Tseng raised his hand to join in at the price of 1.35 million.
In the next 22 rounds, Mr. Tseng's hand was never put down until another mysterious buyer, "Ray," withdrew.
The auction, which was more than A $1 million higher than the top guidance price, was the most expensive item sold that night.
Other items sold included a 1920s Michelin compressor and a 1924 Rolls-Lesbak convertible ( one hundred and twenty three thousand).
The second most expensive item of the night was a 1960 Mercedes-Benz for A $ one hundred and ninety five thousand.
The 2.45 million price of the "4" license plate is almost twice the price of Sydney's median, comparable to the recent sale of a renovated three-bedroom, two-bathroom Victorian semi-stand-alone house on Roslyndale Avenue in the Woollahra district. Or a 3-bedroom California house on Macpherson Street, Cremorne.
Monday night's auction is expected to set a new benchmark for unit license plate prices.
Mr Tseng's "2", which topped the list for A $ seven hundred and fifty thousand years ago, was defeated by the "6" plate of eight hundred thousand in 2008.
The "1" license plate, owned by Sir Frederick Stewart, one of the founders of Air Australia, has been in possession since the 1930s.