72 luxury items seized from Nirav Modi sold at auction for ₹2.29 crore

All 72 items were sold for ₹2,28,84,758, almost three times more than their collective upper estimate price of ₹77,50,000.

The highly anticipated online auction of 72 luxury items seized from diamantaire Nirav Modi by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) ended on Wednesday with all lots sold. Saffronart, which conducted the auction on behalf of ED, had listed 51 designer bags, 20 luxury watches and a car — Porsche Panamera — for sale.

Nirav Modi (File photo)

All 72 items were sold for ₹2,28,84,758, almost three times more than their collective upper estimate price of ₹77,50,000. The lower estimate price for all items together was ₹52,09,500. Seventy items (97% of the sale) were sold for more than their upper estimate price.

A 1967 Cartier asymmetric ‘Crash’ wristwatch was sold for the highest price of ₹36,40,000 — more than 10 times its upper estimate of ₹3,00,000 — while the Porsche fetched a price of ₹36,06,400. The car’s estimate range was ₹10,00,000- ₹15,00,000.

A Vianney Halter and Goldpfeil: Jump hour wristwatch with moonphases was sold for ₹12,93,600, while a Louis Vuitton tall cabin trunk got a winning bid of ₹8,62,400.

“We saw competitive bidding across categories and countries, with more than 700 advance bids received prior to the auction’s opening, making it one of the most successful online auctions for us to date,” said Minal Vazirani, president and co-founder of Saffronart.

The online auction will be followed by a live auction on Thursday. The 40 lots on the block at the live auction include 15 artworks, a 2010 Rolls Royce Ghost and a selection of handbags and watches. “We anticipate an equally enthusiastic response at the live auction,” Vazirani said.

These auctions come a year after Saffronart auctioned 68 seized artworks belonging to Nirav Modi, on behalf of the Income Tax Department, last March, raising ₹54.84 crore from 55 lots.