UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: The $14.5 million license plate

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When you run across a fancy car in the oil-rich Persian Gulf, don’t be quickly impressed by its shape or sleekness. Check the license plate number. This may tell you the real value.

In Abu Dhabi, a car license plate number was sold for about $14.5 million, setting a new Guiness world record, according to a report in the Gulf News.

It might seem like a regular car plate, but it actually held the coveted number ‘1.’ For the loaded businessman who bought it, owning this plate made him feel like ‘the best in the world,’ as he told the crowds present at the moment of his staggering purchase.

After all, the money collected for the number at a charity auction did serve a good cause. It will be used for building a center for the rehabilitation of car crash victims.

According to Motor Authority, a website about fancy cars, the new record means the United Arab Emirates now holds the seven most expensive license plates in the world.

— Raed Rafei in Beirut