Mumbai: Nirav Modi’s assets, including rare paintings went for auction

It was down to the bidding wire at the live auction of the assets, including 15 rare paintings, of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, as the hammer came down with a flourish on all 40 lots

Mumbai: Nirav Modi's assets, including rare paintings went for auction

Saffronart CEO Dinesh Vazirani in live wire mode at the auction

Cool wheels led to the Saffronart gallery as the Live auction of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi's assets took off very late Thursday evening at the Prabhadevi venue, located close to the landmark Century Bazaar.

The auction started off with auctioneer, Saffronart CEO Dinesh Vazirani saying, "we have empty seats in the front, come up here, this is not a classroom where you are afraid to come up front," to laughs.

Getting arty

The paintings started with lot no 1, a Shan Bhatnagar going for over Rs 3 lakh. The bids were physical, made by those in the room who had to lift up their paddles, but they were also online and on the phones. The artworks were raking it in. There was a Manjit Bawa which got it's first 'oooh what's the score we hit a crore' where it climbed to Rs 6.16 crore. "Sold!" said Vazirani.

The bidding for an M F Husain was fast and furious, it reached a dizzying Rs 13.4 crore. Another highly anticipated artwork, Amrita Sher Gil's 'Boys with Lemons' saw very slow bidding. In fact, gaps between bids were so long you could almost squeeze those lemons to make lemonade! It went for a cool Rs 15.7 crore.

Bids and quids

Bids were galloping by Rs 10 lakh jumps for paintings, but the tempo slowed down slightly when it came to bags and watches. A bidder in the room took a watch at R70 lakh. Bids were flying in online from Panchakula and Navi Mumbai, Gurgaon, Bangalore, Kolkata, USA… at one stage a Navi Mumbai and a Dubai bidder were going neck-to-neck in some bids. Dubai seemed omnipresent at the auction with several bids won by online Dubai bidders, who flexed serious money muscle.

Bags and bucks

Hermes Birkin bags were going in the range of Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh. There was a Kelly bag for Rs 11 lakh going to a Mumbai bidder.

The room erupted in laughter as Vazirani said, "finally a bag for men" which went for R4,20,000. The auction went on with the crowd getting restless as the penultimate lot, a Chanel bag saw a lady at the venue and online Dubai bidder at war. "No, no, no, no" one could hear a gent say as the bid climbed to Rs 8 lakh, and you could hear the typical masculine — this much for the bag? in that comment. It was rock 'n' roll as the final lot — The Rolls Royce Ghost car went for over Rs 1.50 crore and the Ghost-ess with the mostest wrapped up the auction on an all sold out note, or like they say in auction lingo, it was a white glove sale, dahlings...

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