?One man?s junk is another man?s treasure?, the saying goes and judging by the size of the crowd at this week?s Customs auction, it must be true.

How about an an entire container of flan, three dog kennels, a box of giant colouring books, coffee urns, hospital bedding, bandages or something called a inverter SCP, a skid of motorcycle batteries, neon lights, or a model of a dog?s brain?

These were just some of the items people were bidding on in the auction at Number 9 Shed on Front Street yesterday and on Thursday.

Senior Customs officer Steve Harney said the items were confiscated and collected over a period of about a year from various locations including Bermuda International Airport and the cargo docks.

?Most of the time it?s stuff that hasn?t been collected, is confiscated because Customs duty hasn?t been paid or even abandoned at the docks,? he said.

He said Customs was not interested in making a profit, or even making what the items were worth, just collecting money that would have been paid in duty.

Auctioneer Leonard Gibbons said he enjoyed the Customs? auction more than the ?fancy? auctions because you could bump into both millionaires and handymen at the same event.

?Everyone?s looking for a bargain,? he said.

And they found it. The most anyone paid at the two-day auction was for three piles of lumber at $2,000 for two and $950 for the third while the cheapest items included $1 for small electrical fittings and $1 for a strip of wood.

An entire container of garden torches went for a whopping $1,450, but then the buyer walked away with about 100 of these that sell for about $40 in most stores on the Island.

Mr. Harney said buyers could do whatever they wanted with the items.

?They can sell them, they can keep them. Whatever they want,? he said.

Marshalita Tota bought a large black suitcase filled with a variety of items including clothing.

?I wanted it because it had a cell phone in it, but I also know who it belongs to so I?m going to return it to them,? she said.