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Goldfinger Private Car Number Plates AU 1 up for auction

Saturday, 22 November 2008

The first cherhised car registrations number "AU 1" in Nottingham will be going for gold at a Car number plate auction next month.

The 1903 car registrations number plate AU 1, which appeared in the James Bond film Goldfinger in 1964, is expected to fetch more than £80,000.

Chosen because AU is the chemical symbol for gold in the Periodic Table, it was seen on the Rolls-Royce Phantom III used by arch villain Goldfinger.

The number belonged to the Dowson family, of Radcliffe-on-Trent, until the mid-1990s. It has since been with its present owner, who wishes to remain anonymous.

DVLA number plate dealer www.R4V.co.uk interviewed by the Nottingham evening post said: "There is a very strong market still for personalised and particularly historic registration plates such as AU 1. Recently Bonhams sold S1 for a hammer price of £360,000 this year – and that was the first registration for Edinburgh. The first number issued anywhere is always significant with the local population and motoring enthusiasts.

”Then we've got the great interest that's stirred up by the Goldfinger production," as Goldfinger is one of the best James Bond films ever made.

The car registration will be auctioned at Olympia in London on December 1. Conatct www.R4V.co.uk if you would be interested in bidding on the plate.

The Lotus car used by Roger Moore in the Spy Who Loved me will also be sold at the same auction.