Gold bullion bar auctioned for 1p

A gold bullion bar worth more than £1,000 has been sold at auction for 1p.

Retail manager Paul Myring said he could not believe his luck when he found out his tiny bid for the bar had been successful on the Humraz auction website.

Humraz works by selling property and gold, via online auctions, to the lowest unmatched bidder. So, if you are the only person to bid 2p, and more than one person has bid 1p, you win the auction.

The website makes its money by charging a single £3 fee per bid for automated auction status messages.

Mr Myring was the only person to bid 1p for the £1,100 gold bar.

"It's incredible no-one else bid 1p," said Mr Myring. "Every other bidder must have thought it was too obvious."

Humraz founder Asmat Monaghan commented: "We think Paul's success is unprecedented in lowest unique bid auction history. Normally several people submit penny bids: it's bizarre that on this occasion no one did."

Another lot is a property in Woking, for which, as of last week, the current lowest bid was between £12.01 and £13.00.