Ostentatious, larger-than-life, and utterly extravagant, that’s Dubai, and the same description can be given for a sim card with a unique phone number that was sold for AED 3.2 Million ($871,412) in an auction. Such flamboyance is expected when the lavish Emirate is involved, but the fact that the humongous amount of money was splurged not on a fancy pen, a Birkin, or even an apartment, but a sim card does send shockwaves through the brains of the not-so-well-heeled. It is not rare for unique numbers that play the role of status symbols to go under the hammer for millions in Dubai. In 2022, a three-digit car license plate was sold for $9.5 million.
Plate number A88 was sold at the ‘Most Noble Numbers’ charity auction, where the three other unique plate numbers up for grabs — F55, V66, and Y66 — sold for $1.08 million, $1.08 million, and $1.03 million, respectively. The ultra-wealthy residents of Dubai have time and again displayed their fascination with unique numbers. An Indian businessman, Balwinder Sahani, paid a whopping $9 million to buy a single-digit car registration plate in the desert kingdom. So far, Sahani has collected 10 number plates and looks forward to collecting more of them.
The sale of the $871,412 sim card with a unique phone number shows Sahani is not alone and there are many more with millions in their pocket dedicated to the art of showing off in a land of Richie Richs. Still, what is considered normal in Dubai drew a mixed wave of reactions on social media platforms. One Reddit user commented, ‘When you have an oil field in your backyard,’ while another stated, ‘When you have everything…oh, wait….’ and another quipped, this happens with number plates as well. stupid crazy. a “normal” Lamborghini is not enough, it must have a special number plate to be cool…’ The Reddit clip showed the number that was sold for nearly $900,000 was all 7s after the country code.
