History

“It was the first Isle of Man number plate and people do like to have number 1.  At the auction we had 4 telephone lines wanting to bid on the number plate and quite a few bidding in the room so I was not surprised it made so much money knowing that some of the plates in the United Kingdom make substantially more than that.

“I knew the late John Moore for many years and I aware he had some extremely interesting classic cars because at almost every important event on the Island his cars would be called upon to provide the splendid transport.

“When royalty came to the island they were usually transported around in one of Johns’ cars.  Most of his vehicles were usually always present at Tynwald Day.

“After John died we took a look at all the cars and I realised that some of the number plates would fetch quite a bit on their own so I suggested to the executors of John’s estate that we sold them separately.

“This proved to be a good decision in the end.

“None of us had any idea how much this number plate would raise because it was being sold in the Isle of Man.  If it was a UK number plate it could have gone for anything up to £200,000. 

“John Moore himself was an extremely likeable chap.  He was very involved in local charity work and also with his military connection worked for charities such as the poppy Appeal Fund and the War Graves Commission.

When he died the church at his funeral was overflowing, he was a very popular character indeed.