A rare 18K gold assymmetrical dial watch by Cartier, which usually costs around Rs5 lakh was sold at a whopping price of Rs36,40,000 on Wednesday. The wrist watch fetched this huge amount only because it was owned by fugitive businessman Nirav Modi.
Additionally, watches by Vianney Halter and Goldpfeil and the one by Gerald Genta (white gold and diamond) were sold at over Rs12 lakh and Rs10 lakh, respectively.
These articles along with 69 other valuable watches, wallets and a car, were sold in an online auction, conducted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) which had seized all these belongings of Modi, an accused in a multicrore scam. The central agency has received over Rs 2 crore by selling 72 valuables owned by the fugitive diamontaire.
The ED also sold a grey coloured Porsche Panamera, owned by Modi. The auction house — Saffron Art — was expecting to sell the car at Rs 15 lakh. However, it managed to fetch Rs36 lakh.
Other items went for higher than their estimates included a vintage gold purse by Chanel, Rs3.76 lakh. It was estimated to sell at Rs1.80 lakh.
Similarly, a vintage cabin trunk by Louis Vuitton was estimated to be sold for Rs90,000, however, it was sold out for Rs8.76 lakh.
Accoridng to Saffron Art, the online auction of Modi’s belongings was one of the most “unusual and interesting” as it received a lot of bids. “Usually, we get limited bids for any article we sell online in an auction. But this time, we received nearly 300 per cent higher bids,” said a representative of the auction house.
The auction house says it had started receiving bids well before the online auction started. “The auction started on March 3 but before it commenced we had already received over 700 bids. We can say it was one of the most successive auctions in terms of competitive bidding,” he added.
“Best part is all the articles put up for sale were sold. Basically, it was a 100 per cent sell for us. Our estimates for almost all the articles, doubled or went on 3-4 fold high,” the representative added.
