Twelve Victorian heritage plates went under the hammer across three auctions this week. Eleven sold. The combined all-in result was $1,441,401 from $1,372,800 in hammer prices — a 91.7% clearance rate and the strongest week The Plate Ledger has recorded.
Every price on this page is all-in: the hammer price plus the buyer's premium you actually pay. Advertised hammer figures understate what a plate costs by anywhere from 4.9% to 8.8% depending on the auction house, which makes cross-auction comparison meaningless unless the premium is folded in.
The headline: 620 at $382,885
A three-digit heritage plate, 620, sold for $365,000 hammer at Heritage Only — $382,885 once the 4.9% premium is applied. Three-digit combinations sit in the scarcest tier of the 1932–1939 numeric series, and supply at this level is effectively fixed. Nothing new enters the market.
Full results
Heritage Only
| Plate | Digits | Hammer | Buyer's premium (4.9%) | All-in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 620 | 3 | $365,000 | $17,885 | $382,885 |
| 9.118 | 4 | $170,000 | $8,330 | $178,330 |
| 8.585 | 4 | $155,000 | $7,595 | $162,595 |
| 2.122 | 4 | $140,000 | $6,860 | $146,860 |
| 6.988 | 4 | $135,000 | $6,615 | $141,615 |
| 88988 | 5 | $112,000 | $5,488 | $117,488 |
| 13.000 | 5 | $95,000 | $4,655 | $99,655 |
| 66.606 | 5 | $90,000 | $4,410 | $94,410 |
| 44.440 | 5 | $71,000 | $3,479 | $74,479 |
| 825 | 3 | Passed in | — | — |
Nine sold, one passed in. Heritage Only applies a flat 4.9% buyer's premium including GST, with no minimum and no cap — the simplest structure of the three houses and the cheapest on high-value lots.
Heritage Only total: $1,398,317 all-in from $1,333,000 hammer.
Trading Garage — 18 August 2026
| Plate | Digits | Hammer | Buyer's premium | All-in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 111.166 | 6 | $23,000 | $2,024 | $25,024 |
Trading Garage charges 8.8% with a $1,000 minimum on every lot, capped at $16,000. At $23,000 hammer the percentage applies, adding $2,024.
Plater
| Plate | Digits | Hammer | Buyer's premium | All-in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 113.211 | 6 | $16,800 | $1,260 | $18,060 |
Plater's premium is 7.5% including GST, with a $1,000 minimum above $10,000 and a $15,000 cap. The percentage exceeds the minimum here, so $1,260 applies.
What the digit count is worth
The clearest signal in this week's data is the price gap between digit tiers. Averaged across all-in results:
| Digits | Lots sold | All-in range | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 1 | $382,885 | $382,885 |
| 4 | 4 | $141,615 – $178,330 | $157,350 |
| 5 | 4 | $74,479 – $117,488 | $96,508 |
| 6 | 2 | $18,060 – $25,024 | $21,542 |
Dropping one digit — from five to four — roughly $60,000 this week. Dropping from four to three, over $200,000. The curve steepens sharply at the short end, which is what you would expect when supply is capped and the shortest combinations were issued first.
The four-digit tier is the most interesting for buyers. Four lots cleared inside a $36,715 band, which suggests a well-established market price rather than speculative bidding. The five-digit tier was looser — $74,479 to $117,488 — with repeating-digit patterns doing the work. 88988 and 66.606 both carry repeat structures and both outperformed 44.440 despite the latter's stronger visual pattern.
Six-digit plates and the entry point
The two six-digit results — 111.166 at $25,024 and 113.211 at $18,060 — sit an order of magnitude below the shorter combinations. For an owner who wants a heritage plate on the car rather than an investment position, this is where the market opens up. Both plates carry the same 1932–1939 series provenance as 620; they simply sit further down the issue sequence.
Was 825 mispriced?
The week's only unsold lot was 825, a three-digit plate. On the evidence of 620 clearing at $382,885 all-in, a three-digit passing in points to a reserve set above where bidding landed rather than an absence of demand. Two three-digit plates in a single week is unusual volume for that tier, and the second lot in a scarce category often finds a thinner room.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Victorian heritage number plate? Heritage plates are from the original numeric series issued between 1932 and 1939, running from 1 to approximately 285,000. The series is closed — no new heritage numbers are created — so the total pool only shrinks as plates are retired or held long-term.
Why do you publish all-in prices instead of hammer prices? Because the buyer's premium varies materially between auction houses. A $100,000 hammer costs $104,900 at Heritage Only, $107,500 at Plater and $108,800 at Trading Garage. Comparing hammer prices across houses tells you nothing useful about what a plate actually costs.
What buyer's premium does each auction house charge? Heritage Only: 4.9% including GST, no minimum, no cap. Plater: 7.5% including GST, $400 minimum under $10,000, $1,000 minimum above $10,000, $15,000 cap. Trading Garage: 8.8%, $1,000 minimum on all lots, $16,000 cap.
Does the digit count determine the value of a heritage plate? It is the single strongest driver, but not the only one. Within a digit tier, repeating patterns, sequential runs and memorable combinations move prices. This week's five-digit results ranged from $74,479 to $117,488 — a 58% spread inside one tier.
How much does a heritage plate cost to get on the car? The plate is the major cost. Fitting a heritage plate to a modern vehicle usually requires a bracket that adapts the plate to the vehicle's existing factory mounting points, since heritage plate dimensions predate current mounting standards.
Next week
The Plate Ledger publishes results every Wednesday, covering Heritage Only, Trading Garage, Plater and Collecting Cars. Every figure is all-in.
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