DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – A car registration plate bearing just the number one fetched $4.9 million at auction in the United Arab Emirates, press reports said on Sunday.
The winning bidder, Emirati businessman Arif Ahmed al-Zarouni, told Gulf News: “My ambition is always to be number one.”
His bid was 18 times the reserve price but is not the highest sum that has been paid for a collector’s registration plate in the UAE.
In 2008, $14.2 million was paid at auction for the number one plate of the richest of the UAE’s seven emirates, Abu Dhabi.
Zarouni’s plate is for Sharjah, the third-richest emirate.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition
by email and never miss our top stories
By signing up, you agree to the
terms
Sixty sought-after plates were up for sale at Saturday’s auction. The most popular numbers were 12, 22, 50, 100, 333, 777, 1000, 2016, 2020 and 99999. The auction made a total of $13.6 million.
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
— Gabriella Jacobs, multimedia journalist
Support our work
Support our work
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You're a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
