HEFEI, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Monday's auction of 676 possessions of disgraced officials in east China's Anhui Province raised nearly four million yuan (500,000 U.S. dollars), with 90 percent of the items sold.

The most expensive lot was a bundle of unframed paintings which was bought by a local businessmen for 40,000 yuan (5,000 U.S. dollars).

The items, which also included jade pieces and computers, formerly belonged to six officials found guilty of corruption, such as Wang Huaizhong, a former provincial deputy governor who was executed in February 2004 for taking bribes totaling 5.17 million yuan (623,000 U.S. dollars).

A selection of calligraphy pieces also attracted a flurry of bids, ironically featuring the Chinese characters for "probity" and "unmaterialistic". The pieces containing the names of the officials attracted the most interest from bidders.

"They (the corrupt officials) didn't really have any understanding of the meaning of the works," said Niu Biao, a businessman in his 40s, who bought a piece of calligraphy.

An ivory fan, formerly the property of Xiao Zuoxin, former mayor of the Fuyang City who was jailed for life for accepting bribes, was auctioned off for 7,500 yuan (963 U.S. dollars), more than six times its reserve price.

Xu Yong, the fan's new owner, was not concerned about where the fan came from. "It had value in itself and was worth buying," he said.

Over 300 participants, including citizens in Hefei, businessmen and representatives of government officials, made up the crowd of bidders..

"Many people showed interest as the reserve prices of the ill-gotten gains were low," said Cai Yi, general manager with the Guo'an Auction Company.

Cai said those items that remained unsold would be looked after by the local procuratorate and auctioned alongside more items from other corrupt officials in the future.

The money raised by the auction will go straight to the local government.