Bernard Madoff's Jacket, Watch Auctioned In NYC

VERENA DOBNIK

NEW YORK (AP) — It was about fascination with big money — and the life of a couple at the center of the biggest financial fraud case in U.S. history.

Bernard and Ruth Madoff's belongings fetched several times their estimated values at auction Saturday for a total of about $1 million, twice as much as the auctioneers had hoped for.

The fallen financier's blue satin New York Mets baseball jacket with his surname stitched on the back, valued at up to $720, sold for $14,500. The jacket carries its own special meaning: Team owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz were among the victims of Madoff's fraud.

Madoff's Hofstra College ring, estimated at $360, went for $6,000.

Excitement filled a Manhattan hotel ballroom as people participating in the auction, run by Pflugerville, Texas-based Gaston & Sheehan, bid for items they could afford without being as rich as Madoff was.

Charlie Blumenkehl raised his hand for a set of Madoff's golf irons, clinching them for $3,600, against a $350-to-$400 estimate.