美国国家公共电台 NPR

Welcome To Delaware, Home Of The $410,000 License¹ Plate

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

License plates are strictly² utilitarian³ in most states - a number to identify a car. Some states a little artwork - oranges in Florida, a peach in Georgia - slogans like land of Lincoln in Illinois, live free or die in New Hampshire. But in Delaware, license plates can be investments.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED AUCTIONEER: Let me get 200, 225, 200,000...

SIMON: On Monday, a license plate hit the block at Emmert Auction⁴ Associates in Rehoboth Beach. William Butch Emmert is owner of that auction house. Thanks for being with us, Mr. Emmert.

WILLIAM EMMERT: My pleasure.

SIMON: How much did it go for?

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED AUCTIONEER: Sold - $410,000...

EMMERT: Four hundred ten thousand dollars for license plate No. 20.

SIMON: Did it belong to Marilyn Monroe or Abraham Lincoln? What makes...

EMMERT: (Laughter) Nope, it was from an estate up in northern Delaware - from Greenville, Del. - and a lovely lady that passed away, you know, of some means and wasn't a celebrity⁵. But anybody that has tag like that inherently is a celebrity in the state of Delaware.

SIMON: And I still don't quite understand. I mean, I'm a baseball fan but still don't understand why the Honus Wagner card is worth millions of dollars. What makes a license plate worth almost half a million dollars?

EMMERT: Well, in the state of Delaware, the governor has No. 1. The lieutenant⁶ governor has No. 2. The secretary of state has No. 3. Everything above No. 3, from 3 to infinity⁷, are all there, available and can be traded. Originally, they were traded for political favors in the '40s and '50s. And then, later, as it became much more prominent to trade them - you know, to sell them for money - what you're actually doing is, you're exchanging tags with someone who has a worthless tag, and the cost is the boot.

SIMON: Well, it's not a worthless tag; it lets you drive, right?

EMMERT: It's not a worthless tag at all. I'm talking about someone trades a worthless tag for the expensive tag and puts it on their car. It's not the plate; it's the number. You know, in the state of Delaware, it's strictly the number. It's a way of transferring wealth from one generation to another. It's like owning a great piece of art. We've seen these tags, like No. 20 - in 1958, '59 this tag was worth $5,000. It just sold for $410,000.

SIMON: If you'd bought gold bullion⁸ at those prices, I'm not sure they'd be - they would have multiplied that much.

EMMERT: No, I'm sure not. Very recently, one of my customers had a low tag on his car, and a gentleman pulled him off the road and asked him if he had come over on the Mayflower. You know, that...

SIMON: (Laughter).

EMMERT: (Laughter) You know, that's - it's old-line Delaware families that are wealthy.

SIMON: But let me understand it. In theory, someone who is a descendant of the founder⁹ of Delaware who had - let's all make it up - who had, let's say, license plate 15...

EMMERT: Right.

SIMON: ...Could sell that to some Eastern European billionaire who just came over, right?

EMMERT: Oh, absolutely. We had people bidding on the tag No. 20 and other tags that we had in the sale that were in Norway but on vacation. But, you know, as long as you're a Delaware resident and you have a license in Delaware, you can certainly do it. Several years back, we sold the world record for a single-digit plate; we sold No. 6 for around $700,000.

SIMON: May I ask - what's your license plate?

EMMERT: One hundred seven.

SIMON: That's a good one, right?

EMMERT: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a good one. Actually, I have several. I have several low license plates. I don't have any as low as 20 or anything like that, but I have some pretty good low ones.

SIMON: Butch Emmert owns Emmert Auction Associates in Delaware. Thanks very much for being with us, Mr. Emmert.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

EMMERT: Scott, my great pleasure.

SIMON: And may all your license plates be low numbers.

EMMERT: (Laughter) There you go.

1 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

2 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

3 utilitarian   

adj.实用的，功利的

参考例句：

• On the utilitarian side American education has outstridden the rest of the world.在实用方面美国教育已超越世界各国。
• A good cloth coat is more utilitarian than a fur one.一件优质的布外衣要比一件毛皮外衣更有用。

4 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

5 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

6 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

7 infinity   

n.无限，无穷，大量

参考例句：

• It is impossible to count up to infinity.不可能数到无穷大。
• Theoretically,a line can extend into infinity.从理论上来说直线可以无限地延伸。

8 bullion   

n.金条，银条

参考例句：

• In the London bullion market yesterday,the price of gold was steady.昨天伦敦金银市场黄金价格稳定。
• Police have launched a man-hunt for the bullion robbers.警方已大举搜捕抢劫金条的罪犯。

9 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。