Part of a bugging device which Sinn Fein claims to have been planted in its Belfast headquarters by MI5 was put up for sale on eBay today.
A chunk of the device, carefully mounted on a plinth, was accompanied by a framed letter of 'authentication' from party president Gerry Adams.
Near the end of day one of the 10-day listing there had been 42 bids with the top reaching $1,025 and it has not reached the hidden reserve yet.
The device was first put on display by Sinn Fein at its HQ at Connelly House in Andersonstown last September, just before the party headed for crunch talks with the British government and other Northern Ireland parties at Leeds Castle in Kent.
The eBay site says it is a "unique opportunity" to obtain a "historical item" the likes of which has never been sold before.
In the accompanying letter Gerry Adams writes that MI5 has admitted bugging the Sinn Fein office.
The site makes it clear the item is only part of the bug planted, no longer working and could not be modified to do so.
Sinn Fein said the "bug" was located at its bookshop in Dublin and that money raised by its sale would go towards its campaign for a united Ireland.