A personalised car number plate featuring just the letter "R" has fetched more than HK$25 million (US$3.18 million) at a government auction, the second highest paid in Hong Kong.
The registration plate was one of 49 up for grabs at the annual Lunar New Year auction held by the Transport Department on Sunday.
Bidding for the "R" plate started at HK$5,000 and a dozen buyers raised the price quickly. One bidder offered HK$2 million, but the price soon jumped to HK$9 million, then to HK$9.4 million.
After about 60 rounds, the hammer went down on a bid of HK$25.5 million, the second-highest amount paid for a number plate in the city.
A "W" plate sold for HK$26 million in March 2021, about 5,200 times the opening price.
Sunday's winning bidder did not respond to media inquiries when she left the auction hall at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.
Registration plate dealers told the media before the sale that "R" was expected to fetch at least HK$10 million because the letter was associated with racing cars and a lucky number in Chinese fortune-telling.
During the Lunar New Year special sale, a majority of the plates on offer carried the digit "8", which is associated with the word "fortune" in Chinese. They included "1388","UU 88", "TT 888" and "VV 8888".
Number plate "292" sold for HK$850,000, the second-highest bid on Sunday. The digit "9" is also considered lucky as its pronunciation is the same as the word that means long-lasting in Chinese.
Secretary for Transport and Logistics Lam Sai-hung said on his blog on Saturday the sale of personalised vehicle registration marks had made nearly HK$600 million for the government since 2006.