A single-letter ACT number plate has sold at auction for almost $150,000, leaving its seller "thrilled".
The plate, which simply reads "X", is otherwise a traditional ACT number plate with blue text on a white background.
The online auction was held over two weeks before closing on Wednesday night.
A Victorian bidder snapped up the plate for $147,200, setting a new record for the sale of a Canberra number plate.
However, the buyer also had to pay an extra $18,400 in tax and auction fees.
The auction host, ALLBIDS general manager Ben Hastings, said the sale price of the rare item was higher than he had expected.
"That's obviously the perks of going to an open auction, where the market gets to dictate the price and sometimes it can just absolutely blow things out of the water," he said.
As there were only 26 single-letter ACT plates, he said it had been difficult to estimate the price and had "conservatively" set the cost at $40,000.
The auction was open to local, interstate and international bidders.
"All the top bidders were Victorian, which was surprising, and they sort of priced out the Canberrans quite quickly," Mr Hastings said.
"If that plate was a Victorian number plate, it could have been worth four times, five times [the amount] or maybe more.
"So, for [the buyer], it was a bit of a bargain really."
Despite the plate's hefty price, Mr Hastings said it was unlikely the new owner would be showing it off on the road.
"They will likely just put it in storage with Access Canberra, and keep it as a private collection and investment," he said.
Mr Hastings recalled a mass sale of ACT number plates in the 1990s, in which the ACT government auctioned dozens of words in alphabetical order.
He said that, at the time, bidders had not realised that single-letter plates were also available.
Once people cottoned on, all 26 letters were snapped up quickly.
Mr Hastings said that the only number plates that were likely more valuable were those that featured single-digit numbers.
