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An enterprising Olympics enthusiast is selling an unused torch from the Beijing Games torch relay on internet auction site eBay just two weeks after the flame was lit in Greece.
Cashing in on Olympic fever, the seller put the torch up for sale on Sunday with a starting price of US$1,400 and attracted four bids within eight hours. As of yesterday, the highest bid was US$1,725. The sale ends at 12.24am  next Monday, Hong Kong time.
On the website, the Athens-based seller, who goes by the name douramakos, said he had been collecting Olympic memorabilia for more than 25 years.
'This torch is from the relay in Greece. Not all the torches are used in the torch relays,' he  said in response to e-mailed questions.
Each of the 21,880 runners carrying the Olympic flame around the world gets to keep their torch as a memento. About 16,000 of them were selected by the national Olympic committees of the countries involved in the relay while the others were chosen by the three Olympic torch relay partners - Coca-Cola, Samsung and Lenovo.
This year is the first time that torches will be given to all the runners free. Torch-bearers in the relay for  the 2004 Athens Games had to pay Euro400  for a torch.
The flood of Olympic torches could make the market for such memorabilia even more active. An Olympic torch from the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy, is also on sale on eBay, with the latest bid at US$1,000. Other torches being sold on eBay include one used in the 1980 Moscow Olympics, for an asking price of US$5,500, and another from the 1936 Berlin Games going for US$18,000.
At online Olympic memorabilia auction house www.ioneil.com, a torch used in the 1956 Winter Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, is valued at US$29,500.
In Hong Kong, Samsung Electronics has acquired one torch designed for the Beijing Games relay for more than US$1,000. Coca-Cola China has also bought several  torches for use on the mainland, in Hong Kong and Macau.
'The torch is very expensive,' Samsung managing director Kim Byung-wook said.
Both companies use the torch  for presentation ceremonies. Mr Kim said Samsung wanted to buy more torches as gifts for its business partners but found it  difficult because sales needed to be approved by Beijing Olympic officials. Only one mainland factory has been authorised to make the torches.
Standing 72cm tall and weighing 985 grams, the aluminium-magnesium alloy torch was designed by mainland personal computer maker Lenovo. The torch boasts advanced technology to keep the flame lit in bad weather. The  fuel cartridge can  sustain a flame for 15 to  20 minutes.



Unused beacon of Beijing Games up for sale on eBay