SHANGHAI - The first auction of Expo memorabilia and props was held in Shanghai on Wednesday, achieving total sales of 1.6 million yuan ($240,000), 1.3 million yuan higher than estimated.

The first auction of Expo memorabilia and props is held in Shanghai on Wednesday. [Gao Erqiang / China Daily]

Items under the hammer included three motorboats and 10 sailboats rigged with flags of Expo 2010 Shanghai, which all appeared in the opening ceremony of the event on April 30.

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A total of 33 people, including 14 registered and online bidders, participated in the auction, along with 15 enterprises from Suzhou, Wenzhou, Nanjing and Shanghai, according to Fan Ganping, vice-president of the Shanghai International Commodity Auction Company, the Expo's official auction partner.

The first item sold was a motorboat catalogued as D001, which had a starting price of 80,000 yuan. After successive rounds of bidding, it was finally sold for 160,000 yuan to Su Shouliang, the president of a local gardens and park company.

Su also placed the winning bid for the second item in the auction, a sailboat that sold for 280,500 yuan, almost 35 times its starting price of 8,000 yuan.

"Our company was responsible for the landscape park on the roof of the China Pavilion, which is why I feel attached to the Expo," Su said.

"I was the first bidder to register for the auction and arrived determined to take home the boats.

"As our company has several restaurants in Shanghai's suburban areas such as Fengxian. I would like to display the boats there."

Huang Jianzhi, deputy director of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, said the proceeds of the auction far exceeded his expectations.

He said there would be a number of other items available for auction when the Expo ends in October.

In the meantime, a second auction is due to be held in September.