- ‘BAR 8IE’ number plate up for auction with asking price of over £1m
- The Barbie movie broke records worldwide and was the highest-grossing film of 2023
- The seller could cash out before the Oscars next week, where Barbie will compete for eight awards
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A Barbie-inspired private license plate has hit the market and is expected to sell for a staggering amount.
The ‘BAR 8IE’ number plate has a seven-figure asking price, which would make it the most expensive number plate ever sold in Britain for twice the value of the current record holder.
Its availability is due to the fact that the Barbie movie became the highest-grossing film of 2023.
It took just 17 days for Margot Robbie, Greta Gerwig and Ryan Gosling to create pink plastic perfection to tie the record for the fastest time for a film to reach $1 billion worldwide.
‘BAR 8IE’: Private license plate now on sale through Absolute Reg for over £1m
Barbie, the highest-grossing movie of 2023, has been a box office and awards show hit, and now the owner of a plastic-inspired pink license plate is looking to cash in
The ‘BAR 8IE’ number plate is sold through Absolute Reg for an asking price of over £1,048,125.
Valid for any vehicle registered after January 1, 1967, it can be purchased online through Absolute Reg website.
With Barbie nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, the seller is likely hoping that the hype surrounding the 2024 Oscars, which take place on Sunday, March 10, will help enrollment reach this astronomical amount of money.
Barbie, who is also a car girl, has spent 64 years driving some classic cars.
From a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible to a Jaguar XJS and a Porsche 964 911 convertible, there’s no denying that Barbie knew her wheels.
It has been estimated that the total value of Barbie vehicles today is around £12.5 million.
The new Barbie movie hits screens today with Margot Robbie (pictured) taking a starring role alongside Ryan Gosling as Ken.
Hot Wheels has been producing Barbie cars for years, and all of its most iconic and beloved engines have become plastic collector’s items.
While that’s an eye-watering amount of money for the best of Barbie cars, and £1 million may seem like a crazy price to pay for a hunk of plastic, the reality is that private number plates can cost more than 10 times as much.
The world record for the most expensive private license plate of all time was broken in April 2023, when a license plate with the number ‘7’ sold at auction in Dubai for £12 million.
The price was around £5 million more than the previous record held since 2008.
In recent years, private tuitions have become hugely lucrative investment opportunities.
The rise in popularity of the private metal market makes investment returns better than traditional investments such as watches, jewelry and classic cars.
Now the private plate market is a world of staggering sums of money, bidding wars, world records and high-level collectors.
As of 2023, companies operating in the sector valued the British personalized number plate industry at over £2 billion.
Collectors or enthusiasts will spend hundreds of thousands and millions to obtain combinations that will quickly appreciate or have sentimental value. These combinations tend to be two initials and a number, but sometimes the mystery of why a plate is worth the amount it is is part of the speculative fun.
Most expensive private plates of 2023: We reveal which personalized number plates the DVLA sold for the highest amounts last year and compare them to the most expensive of all time
While you can buy through number plate providers, the DVLA in the UK holds six auctions each year.
The most expensive DVLA registration ever sold was the ’25 O’, which fetched £400,000 (excluding fees and taxes) on 27 November 2014.
As the years go by, supply begins to decline and demand skyrockets, prices continue to rise and the least attractive combinations sell for more than the most attractive ones five to ten years ago.
John Kirkbright, sales director at number plate supplier Platehunter, previously told MailOnline that he expects this year to be the biggest yet: “The second-hand number plate market continues to go from strength to strength and 2024 will be no different.”
It looks like the ‘BAR 8IE’ owner will celebrate winning £1million, while Barbie and Ken will celebrate their Oscars next week.