Ninety of the 2,008 drums used at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games were auctioned on-line Monday with bids totaling 12.83 million yuan (US$1.88 million).

The auction, held by China Beijing Equity Exchange (CBEX) on www.jinmajia.com website, lasted about 26 hours, attracting more than 10,000 bidders, according to the auction page on the website.

Drum No.1890 was sold at 288,000 yuan, the most expensive of the 90 pieces carrying special numbers. The lowest successful bid was 76,200 yuan.

CBEX auctioned the first 1,000 drums, also known as "fou", for 52.45 million yuan on March 8.

The last group of 410 fou and about 1,000 "zhujian" bamboo scrolls will go under the hammer Wednesday, according to CBEX.

Fou drums are ancient instruments made from clay or bronze. Zhujian scrolls were used instead of paper in ancient China.

Altogether 1,500 of the 2,008 drums will be auctioned, while the rest, excluding the damaged items, are expected to be donated to other organizations.

The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) entrusted the exchange to auction Olympic-related items last August.

More than 500,000 items have already been sold for almost 30 million yuan, including the king-size bed used by Chinese basketball player Yao Ming, in nine auctions to date.

(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2009)