Anonymous collector of rare telephone numbers says their collection has “no price”
An anonymous collector began collecting rare mobile phone numbers 15 years ago.
During that time, they became the proud owner of 15 unique mobile phone numbers, four of which hold Guinness World Records titles:
- The most consecutive identical digits in a registered mobile (cellular) phone number is 10 for the number (+39)3333333333
- The most consecutive descending digits in a registered mobile (cellular) phone number is 8 for the number (+39)3376543210
- The most consecutive ascending digits in a registered mobile (cellular) phone number is 8 for the number (+39)3401234567
- The most identical digits in a registered mobile (cellular) phone number is 11 for the number (+39)3333333333
Their other phone numbers include the perfect combination of all numbers from 0 to 9.
Their collection is called “Golden Digits”.
The collection began by chance: the collector’s mobile phone stopped working one day and he had trouble remembering his phone number. That’s when his friend turned to him and advised that he needs a phone number that’s super easy to remember.
What easier number to remember than recurring digits!
When asked about the estimated value of Golden Digits, the anonymous collector said it has “no price”. Each phone number is completely unique and registered to the collector, so only 1 of 1 phone number can exist.
For context, the most expensive telephone number sold at auction was the mobile phone number 666-6666 during a charity auction hosted in Doha, Qatar, in 2006.
The phone number was sold for 10 million QAR (then £1.46 million; $2.75 million), to an anonymous Qatari bidder.
The previous record was for the telephone number 8888-8888 which was purchased in China in 2003 for CN¥ 2.33 million (then $280,723, £177,209).
Many countries in the world hold numbers which have great significance. For example, in China, the number 8 is a symbol of fortune. This is because the number eight in Mandarin is "bā" (八), and in Cantonese it sounds like "fa" (发), meaning “prosperity”, or “getting rich”.
The anonymous collector shared some advice for people collecting any sort of item: “passion!”
They say that you build meaningful collections due to sheer passion and having items that are part of something that are personally important to you or a hobby.
Read more stories like this in our dedicated Collections section!
Surprisingly, phone numbers aren’t the only thing in their collection! They are also an avid collector of football team shorts.
Also, don’t try ringing the telephone numbers... they won’t pick up!