- Someone bought a 1904 license plate for $34,000
- It’s extremely rare and was issued by the city of Chicago
- The plate is made out of aluminum
Published on Aug 05, 2024 at 5:02 PM (UTC+4)
by Siddharth Dudeja
Last updated on Aug 05, 2024 at 5:02 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
When auctions and rare items are mixed together, it usually ends up with someone paying a lot of money – which is exactly what happened with this extremely rare Chicago license plate that fetched a price of $34,000.
What’s more, the City of Chicago, Illinois, US, actually issued this license plate in 1904, and not the state of Illinois as is standard now.
Apart from that intricate detail, its most unique quality is what’s written on it — the number ‘1.’
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A rare license plate can be a tempting auction purchase
As far as license plates go, single-digit plates end up being worth millions of dollars.
For instance, this Cybertruck with the number ‘5’ plate is now the world’s most expensive Cybertruck as the plate itself costs $8.9 million.
Or this unique ‘AA8’ number plate, for that matter — which sold for $9.5 million.
Plates like the Chicago one usually go for significantly higher, so how come this ended up selling for a mere $34,000?
Well, since it’s from 1904 and not issued by the state of Illinois, it’s not exactly valid.
Moreover, it’s more worthy of being a collection piece rather than sitting on a car’s bumper.
Chicago authorities only issued license plates during a short-lived tenure from 1901 to 1907.
The Chicago plate is truly rare
Another interesting feature of this rare plate is that it’s made out of aluminum, which could only be seen on plates from 1904.
It was further decided to create them from brass, making the 1904 variants rarer today.
The listing mentions that it has a detail etched on the back that proves its authenticity.
It’s also got the plate’s authentic images, so you can view them there.
In addition, the auction house estimated that someone would buy it for around $2,000 to $4,000 when put under the hammer.
But as auctions go, the bidding war for the plate was intense, and the number ‘1’ Chicago license plate found a new owner in 2022.
Regardless of its rarity, $34,000 is a high price for a plate, and hopefully, its new owner is satisfied with their pricey purchase.
