The Victorian heritage plate ‘9‘ is owned by Melbourne’s Smorgon family.
In the first series of plates issued in 1910, Vic 9 was issued to a Toorak resident, along with plates 7 and 8. These were the first privately issued number plates in the state.
When the second series was issued, Vic 9 was first displayed in 1933 on a Vauxhall. This time the plate was also owned by a Toorak resident (possibly the same person?) by the name of N. Bayles of ‘Umina’, Toorak.
At the 1984 auction Vic 9 was sold for $31,000. To put that into perspective, the median house price for Melbourne in 1984 was $68,200. So you could say the plate cost a little less than half the value of a typical Melbourne home.
In 2004 a magazine article reported that the plate was believed to have changed hands “in recent times” for between $250,000 and $350,000. The median house price in Melbourne in 2004 was $357,000, so the plate was certainly catching up to house prices by this stage.
Today the plate is estimated to be worth over $1 million, and potentially as high as $2 million. This is considerably above today’s median house price, which shows what a good investments heritage number plates have been over a long period of time.
It seems unlikely that the plate will come onto the market again any time soon, with the current owners being Australia’s wealthiest family, the Smorgons.
According to BRW magazine’s Rich Families list 2014, the Smorgons are Australia’s richest family with an estimated wealth of $2.7 billion.
The family is also reported to own an even more impressive single digit plate; Vic 2, and to match their Vic 9 plate they also have 90 and 900.
Whichever of the Smorgon clan who has use of the Vic 9 plate clearly has a taste for very nice cars, with the plate being spotted over the years on a Ferrari 599 GTB, Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead and most recently a Rolls Royce Wraith.
Images:
Rolls Royce Wraith – 19 October 2014 – Heritage Number Plate Spotting
Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead – 23 April 2014* – Heritage Number Plate Spotting
* The photo was said to be around 2 years old when posted.
Ferrari 599 – 22 March 2008 – Ferrari Chat
Ferrari 599 – 3 March 2007 – Plate Shed
Ferrari 599 – 3 March 2007 – Plate Shed
1984 Auction Result – Heritage Number Plate Spotting
References:
18 December 2011 – Plate owners register a protest – The Age
“I recently saw No 9 (VIC) advertised for around $775k………………on the net classifieds there’s always a chance it’s on old ad that hasn’t been removed but it’s there.“
8 August 2011 – Aussie Exotics
“Numbers 2, 4 and 9 have all believed to have changed hands privately in recent times for prices in the $250,000-$350,000 range.”
February 2004 – Numbers Up! – Unique Cars