DTME0511

Dental Cafe DENTALTRIBUNE Middle East & Africa Edition There used to be a time when a private plate really meant you were doing ok for yourself. Now, though, they’re so cheap that they’re rarely a status symbol. Apart from these beauties that is. We’ll start with the UK’s five top plates, then move onto the world’s list - all of which dwarf our humble registration record breakers, and, interest- ingly,wereallboughtinthesame country: Abu Dhabi. In the UK 5Plate: VIP 1 Price: £285,000 Buyer: Roman Abramovich When: 2006 The UK’s most famous Russ- ian oil oligarch, whose net worth is an estimated £8.4bn, bought VIP 1 as a nice little boost to his self-esteem. Abramovich was planning on putting the plate on his prized pre-facelift second generation green Fiat Punto, but he decided on his Rolls-Royce Corniche IV instead. 4Plate: M1 Price: £331,500 Buyer: Mike McCoomb When: 2006 After Mike McCoomb sold his mobile phone company to BT for around £40m, a number plate seemed a nice way to parade his new wealth. We’re not sure what plate he bought for himself though, because this one was for his ten-year-old son. Apparently the boy was furious - he’d specif- ically asked for a Play-Doh Bar- ber Shop. 3Plate: 1D Price: £352,411 Buyer: Nabil Bishara When: 2009 Lebanese property developer Nabil Bishara paid this stagger- ing price at an auction in War- wickshire, in March 2009. He bought it for his wife’s Bentley as a surprise present. 2Plate: S1 Price: £404,063 Buyer: Anonymous When: 2008 September 2008 saw the pur- chase of Edinburgh’s first regis- tered number plate, at a Bon- hams auction in Chichester. The bidder said, perhaps sarcasti- cally, that the plate would be reg- istered to “an old red Skoda.” 1Plate: F1 Price: £440,625 Buyer: Afzal Khan When: 2008 Afzal Khan, owner of car styling company Project Kahn, is officially the owner of the UK’s mostexpensiveplate.Hefirstput itonhisMercedes-McLarenSLR, though we recently saw it on Mr Khan’s white Bugatti Veyron parked in his Bradford show- room. In the UAE 5Plate: 7 Price: £1.58m Theworldrecordsareallheld by single-digit plates bought at a series of auctions in Abu Dhabi, starting in May 2007, with the proceeds going to various chari- ties including to a rehabilitation centre for traffic accident vic- tims. Who’d have believed that a £1.58 million plate could be only fifth on the list? 4Plate: 9 Price: £1.72m This is the fifth single digit number plate to sell in Abu Dhabi. The May 2008 auction that it was part of saw 100 plates sold in front of 450 bidders. In to- tal, 52 million UAE dirhams was raised for charity - around £9m. 3Plate: 7 Price: £3m A YouTube video shows plate number 7 fetching its staggering price.Theydon’tdothingsbyhalf over in Abu Dhabi, selling the plate from a huge stage complete with an Enzo Ferrari, a Mer- cedes-Benz G Wagen and a May- bach. 2Plate: 5 Price: £3.4m Nobody thought that the ludi- crous £3.4m paid by Emirati stockbroker Talal Khouri for number 5 would be broken - he said the number meant nothing to him - until the February 2008 auction of number 1. 1Plate: 1 Price: £7.1m “I bought it because it’s the best number,” said Saeed Khouri after he paid £7.1m for the num- ber 1. One of 90 plates sold in its auction,theeventraisedatotalof £14.7m for charity 10 The world’s most expensive number plates Media Partner: More information & registration: Tel.: +30 210 22.22.637, +30 210 21.32.084 e-mail: omnipress@omnipress.gr website: www.omnicongresses.gr, www.omnipress.gr For the 1st time in Greece Pascal Magne & Michel Magne Didier Dietschi, Switzerland Ueli Grunder, Switzerland Markus Hurzeler, Switzerland Sascha Jovanovic, USA George Eliades, Greece Cutting edge of clinical dentistry September 23 - 24, 2011 Athens, Greece Chairmen: Panos Bazos, Greece Stavros Pelekanos, Greece Conference Fee (lectures only): 183 EUR until June 6, 2011 240 EUR until September 5, 2011 300 EUR upon registration Athenaeum Intercontinental Hotel & Conventional Center 103 - 105, Syngrou Avenue, Athens AD AD