A 2010 torch is being hawked on eBay — only days after the Olympic flame arrived in Canada.
The Athens-based seller, who goes by the name douramakos, said in an e-mail to Metro that the torch was purchased from a torch runner in Greece, and that douramakos was hoping to sell it at a small profit.
The torch is listed at about $2,700 and was posted on Halloween. There was one bid as of yesterday.
Bombardier has manufactured about 12,000 torches, one for each torchbearer. Runners are able to purchase their torch for $349.
The torch, which arrived in Victoria on Friday, was lit seven days earlier by the sun’s rays during a ceremony in Olympia, Greece.
Photos, posted on eBay, show the graceful curving white torch with the Vancouver 2010 inukshuk logo and grey carrying case. Others show the white casing removed and inner workings of the torch.
The seller would not identify which runner sold the torch, nor how much was paid. However, douramakos claimed the purchase price was higher than the opening bid of $2,500 US.
“As a collector myself, I really appreciate and value these memorabilia which are really a part of history,” the seller wrote.
