A plate on display prior to the start of the auction in Abu Dhabi. (Photograph by Manuel Salazar/Associated Press)The Bugatti Type 41 Royale is widely considered the most expensive car in the world. Only six were ever built (between 1927 and 1933). And each is estimated to be worth around $10 million.
Chicken feed. Last weekend, a man paid $14 million for a license plate at a charity auction in Abu Dhabi. And he didn’t get a whole lot in return. It isn’t encrusted in Swarovski or plated with gold. In fact, the license plate carries just one single digit: 1.
“I bought it because it’s the best number,” explained Saeed Khouri, a member of a wealthy Abu Dhabi family. “I bought it because I want to be the best in the world.”
Mr. Khouri’s new plate is unusual because most license plates in Abu Dhabi carry both Arabic and Western numerals and scripts.
According to Bloomberg.com:
Khouri won the auction in Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace hotel amid chaotic scenes in the auditorium, which was packed with more than 700 people. The Abu Dhabi businessman had to push through photographers, cameramen and spectators to the front of the room to be seen by the auctioneer before thrusting his number into the air for the final time, his mobile phone at his ear throughout the bidding.
The sum of money was “normal” for his family, Hamdan Khouri said after the auction. “I was prepared to spend as much as 100 million dirhams.”
That’s about $27 million. The record sale surpassed the $6.8 million that was paid for an Emirati license plate at an earlier auction with the Western number 5 on it — also without Arabic numerals or letters.
Apparently there is an inverse relationship between the length of a license plate number and its price at auction. Last weekend, a man in Delaware paid $675,000 for a license plate with the number 6 on it. In January, the plate “F1″ went for $780,000 in Britain. Afzal Kahn, who owns a customizing shop for the rich and famous, bought the plate to put on his Range Rover Cosworth.
Last May, the United Arab Emirates started auctioning vanity plates as to generate funds to build a rehabilitation center for victims of traffic accidents. According to the Globe and Mail, 312 people were killed in road accidents in 2006.
However, in a country where gambling is prohibited and casinos are unheard of, it was difficult to explain the mechanics of an auction to first-time bidders.
“People did not know what an auction was, so when we gave them a bid paddle they first thought they were supposed to write their bid on the back. Some people were also angry that we use cardboard paddles instead of plastic. I was worried that if we used plastic, people would hurt themselves, or each other,” [Abdullah al Mannaie, the auction manager] added.
They seem to be getting the hang of it. On Saturday, 90 license plates were auctioned off, raising a total of $24 million.
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