Within a few minutes, the price for Dubai vehicle number plate E33 reached Dh1m from a starting bid of Dh220,000.
The auctioneer went hoarse in the process. He took a sip of water and raised the pitch of his voice. But he should not have bothered because a couple of young men in the audience wanted that plate. Someone immediately raised his hand to take it to Dh1.02m. The minimum increase in the bids in this particular auction was Dh20,000.
The bidders for this number plate had dwindled to two or three. Then, more than 15 minutes after it was put under the hammer, the number plate was sold to Ahmed Mohammed, a UAE national, for Dh1.14m.
He walked to a table nearby where three police officers were sitting. He wrote out his cheque and received a large envelope and a receipt for the plate.
Earlier, about 60 people paid Dh1,000 each to take part in yesterday's auction, which started at 9am at the Dubai Police Officers Club, near Garhoud Bridge. For some reason, number E33 was in big demand, unlike other double digit numbers, such as E50, E70, E80, E90 and E77, which did not go beyond Dh870,000.
This was the second time Mir Mohammed, an Iranian businessman, was taking part in the auction. He was looking for either a two-digit or a three digit number for his BMW X5 and his Porsche. "It's a hobby," he said, when asked why he wanted these unique plates. He said he has a white plate, which was first issued by Dubai Police. "It was passed on to me by my family."Even as the auctioneer was shouting the figures from the podium, Mohammed quickly went to another table where jeweller Ahmed Al Awar sat and started haggling with him for number E888 that the latter had bid on and won. Al Awar, who owns jewellery shops in Burj Al Arab and the Grand Hyatt, won the number for Dh320,000.
"I don't need the money. This is for my car, which I am getting from Abu Dhabi," he said. "The Chinese believe it is a lucky number."
Mohammed did not give up and eventually bought it off him for a little more than Dh400,000.
The UAE national later told Gulf News he does not believe in lucky numbers. "These are nice numbers." He had purchased four number plates E888, E700, E300 and E90 for a grand sum of Dh1.07m. Asked whether he will sport them on all his cars, he said he did not have that many cars. "I will have to buy more," he said.
Someone paid a quarter million dirhams for E666, not realising the stigma this number carries in some cultures. Dubai police collected nearly Dh10m from 36 number plates.
Two-digits among top grossers
E 33 Dh1.14m E 77 Dh870,000 E 50 Dh600,000 E 70 Dh470,000 E 80 Dh410,000 E 90 Dh410,000 E 333 Dh350,000 E 666 Dh250,000 E 777 Dh360,000
Gulf News
