The fervent race to a special car license plate lost its charm at a Riyadh auction on Monday when the highest bid for the best special number offered did not exceed SR11,000. The attendance at the auction held at the Northern Riyadh Traffic Department was remarkably weak compared to previous auctions in which bids achieved record high. Monday's auction netted SR84,200, however. In an earlier auction, and without batting an eyelid, an anonymous buyer dished out a record SR6.5 million for a vanity car license plate bearing AAA 1111 in the first public auction for the new version of the Saudi car plates in November 2007 in Riyadh. The first auction collected SR17 million from selling nine car plates. The license plates were displayed to eager bidders on a line of gleaming luxury cars. In Saudi Arabia, the value of a plate depends on a mix of math and emotional appeal, but mostly on a show