Flea market find sells for 1.4 million kronor at auction

The torch is now the highest-priced item sold at Stockholms Auktionsverk in Helsingborg.

"We understood early on that this was a very special Olympic item, but the bidding was far beyond our expectations. For the seller, it is a somewhat unlikely feeling that an item she bought at a flea market has now been sold for over 1.4 million kronor," says Staffan Milsten, appraiser at Stockholms Auktionsverk Helsingborg, in a press release.

The 41-centimetre-high and just over 0.5-kilogram torch had a starting price of 25,000 kronor, but after intense bidding, the final price was set.

Fewer than ten known copies of the torch from 1956 are believed to have been preserved.