SOLD! Delaware Number 6
February 17th, 2008 by Maria Evans
The coveted Delaware number 6 license plate.
First, let me say this was the farthest I’ve ever had to park from Rehoboth Avenue…worse than any 4th of July…worse than that terrifying Yuletide when Kathy Lee Gifford came for the tree lighting on the Avenue…and it was all for the black and white number 6 license plate.
When I arrived, (which was just in time and let me take this moment to apologize and thank all of those people whose yards I cut through to get there), there was excitement in the crowd and everyone was anticipating the sale of number 6. And for those of you who have never been, this is what an auction sounds like, it’s just like on TV…AUDIO
The plate was from the estate of Charles Murphy, described by Butch Emmert of Emmert Auctions as a “longtime Milford Delaware resident,” who was “very well known” and who “helped to bring harness racing/gambling to the State.”
The bidding started at $250,000, and Butch Emmert did the auctioneering himself, and let me say he was in rare form, turning up the heat and driving up the price. Even the spectators were having a great time and Emmert had everyone laughing and enjoying themselves. Take a listen to Emmert prodding the bidders and entertaining the packed crowd. AUDIO
Bidding for Anthony Fusco was his grandson Frank Vassallo. Fusco also owns Delaware number 9.
It was a duel between a Sussex County bidder and a New Castle County bidder and in the end, Anthony Fusco, from Fusco Enterprises in New Castle County, won the plate for a whopping $675,000. AUDIO
“…but $675,00 was right where I thought it would be…I really feel like if the economy was better it would have been close to a million dollars.” -Butch Emmert of Emmert Auctions AUDIO
Fusco is also the owner of Delaware number 9. Bidding for Fusco who was in California was his grandson Frank Vassallo who said that tag number 9, bought by his grandfather for $185,000, turned out to be a better investment “than the S&P 500.”
February 19th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
I heard that the state was going to buy the tag, and try to make money by doing a lottery for the tag. Did anyone else hear this? It think they have done it before in a scratchoff form. Seems like a smart idea, but can the state do that and if so, did they not do it because they didn’t think they could produce 700K plus from the lottery?