Monday, February 21, 2005

What is "12" Worth to You?

Had to share a bit of the morning news today. An anonymous buyer purchased a Hong Kong license plate with the number "12" on it for HK$7.1 million (approximately US$900 thousand). While you may have heard that the Chinese can be quite superstitious, the reason for the high price of the license plate was not its traditional meaning in Chinese culture, but rather what the word "12" sounds like when pronounced. "12" comes across as sounding similar to the Cantonese terms for "certainly easy."

Although this was the most expensive recent purchase of a license plate, in 1993 and 1994 license plates with "2" and "9" sold for HK$9.5 million and HK$13 million respectively. Clearly this is more than a one time phenomena and may even be a market worth investing in;-)

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