Delaware license plate 20 sells for $410,000 at Rehoboth Beach auction

Taylor Goebel | The Daily Times

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In Delaware, there may be no status symbol greater than the coveted low-digit license plate.

That rang true Sunday as the black-and-white tag no. 20 was sold for $410,000 by Emmert Auction Associates at the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center.

John Wakefield, owner of Delaware Tag Traders, which is affiliated with Emmert Auction Associates, said they sell a license plate of that magnitude every two or three years.

Six to eight people were initially interested in the tag, Wakefield said. The bidding started low — $210,000, and lasted about six and a half minutes, with it becoming $5,000-$10,000 more expensive every 30 seconds. By the time the auctioneer urgently chanted out the plate at $310,000, only two people were left.

And $100,000 later, the final sale went to a Sussex County native in his 80s, according to Wakefield.

"Delaware is Delaware," Wakefield said of the First State's penchant for low-digit tags. "Nobody gets it unless you’re in Delaware. It's always been in our history."

License plates are lucrative merchandise. The first three plates of the first state belong to the governor, lieutenant governor and secretary of state, but the rest are salable. Tag no. 4, currently strapped to a Wilmington-area Lexus, is worth well more than $1 million — if it ever goes on the market, Wakefield said.

Tag no. 14 sold in 2016 for $325,000. "Given (tag no. 20) sold for $410,000, the market has gotten stronger," Wakefield said.

The Delaware license plate can be a status symbol, but that's not why everyone forks up six digits to get two in return.

"It's not just to put on the car, but to have an investment," Wakefield said. "We trade these tags quite often for a lot of money. I think there’s always going to be a market for them."

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