A local bidder paid £270,000 for the coveted plate at an auction hosted by Martel Maides at Les Cotils on Wednesday evening.
The sale price beat the previous high of £240,000 spent on the 007 plate in 2015.
Martel Maides managing director Jason Yendell said he had expected the 111 plate to do well, calling it 'the best three-digit number plate in the island', but added its estimate had only been between £55,000 and £60,000.
‘We pitched it at £55,000, but you never really know how high the number could go,’ he said.
‘There was a lot of interest and the room at Les Cotils was fairly full. It was probably our best-attended auction of the year in terms of the number of people there in-person.’
Since Covid, Mr Yendell said the market for number plates had increased. He said people bought them for a whole host of reasons.
‘Some people just like the look of the number – 111 in particular looks good because it looks like a bar code.
‘Others choose to buy as an investment, while some might purchase one because the number is their birthday or the birthday of a loved one.
‘Ultimately Guernsey number plates are rare, especially the two and three-digit ones, which is why they garner so much interest.’
While the 111 sale was the undoubted highlight of the auction, number plate 81 also did well, fetching £47,000 against an estimate of between £35,000 and £40,000.
There were five other plates which sold for at least £10,000, with 073, 416, 026, 084 and 034 all reaching five figures.
More than £460,000 was spent across the 82 lots on offer.
Things you could buy for £270,000...
‘Girl with Balloon’, a famous Banksy print valued at £270,000 which was stolen and subsequently recovered last year in London.
The 1966 World Cup and 1968 European Cup winners’ medals of late England and Manchester United midfielder Nobby Stiles, bought for a combined fee of just over £200,000 by United in 2010.
A week’s hire of a 59.4m-long Vicky luxury charter yacht, with space for 12 guests and 12 crew. Rates start from £220,000 per week.
An M3 Stuart Light Tank used during the Second World War for £220,000 plus VAT.
A flat along Les Canichers in St Peter Port for £265,000, currently advertised on Swoffers’ website.
Fund Unicef to vaccinate 4,900 children against 11 diseases.
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