Gilded Vanity Plates for the Richest in Abu Dhabi
I thought it was a bit of an extravagance when I bought my "GNCAFE" license plates for the cafe truck. Today I realized that I'm in little league when it comes to extravagant plate splurges. In yesterday's WSJ, I read about vanity plates going for millions of dollars in Abu Dhabi.
You know all of that money we're paying for gas? Well, most of it is awash in these desert kingdoms, and now that the sheiks all have Ferraris, the next thing they want are vanity plates. The story by Margaret Coker describes a recent auction, where hundreds of men in starched white robes got together to fight and bid over low-numbered plates. The action takes place in the 64,500 square foot Emirates Palace Hotel, that stretches almost one mile along the sea. As the auctioneer approaches the podium, the theme from "Chariots of Fire" blares over loudspeakers, and the men sip tea and coffee from gold-rimmed cups.
Business man Saeed Khouri scored and made the Guiness Book of World Records when he plunked down $14 million for a tag that simply said '1.' A cousin of his paid $9 million for '5'. In the Emirates, having these auctions is something new, they've been trading plates privately for years. The government hauled in more than 120 million for the 900 plates offered this year. They are building a new trauma hospital for victims, perhaps some of them will be sheiks driving too fast in those Ferraris.
You know all of that money we're paying for gas? Well, most of it is awash in these desert kingdoms, and now that the sheiks all have Ferraris, the next thing they want are vanity plates. The story by Margaret Coker describes a recent auction, where hundreds of men in starched white robes got together to fight and bid over low-numbered plates. The action takes place in the 64,500 square foot Emirates Palace Hotel, that stretches almost one mile along the sea. As the auctioneer approaches the podium, the theme from "Chariots of Fire" blares over loudspeakers, and the men sip tea and coffee from gold-rimmed cups.
Business man Saeed Khouri scored and made the Guiness Book of World Records when he plunked down $14 million for a tag that simply said '1.' A cousin of his paid $9 million for '5'. In the Emirates, having these auctions is something new, they've been trading plates privately for years. The government hauled in more than 120 million for the 900 plates offered this year. They are building a new trauma hospital for victims, perhaps some of them will be sheiks driving too fast in those Ferraris.
Labels: Abu Dhabi
posted by Max Hartshorne at 3:12 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home