Punters fork up for sex shop memorabilia

The Pleasure Chest on Auckland's K Road. Photo / Supplied

An iconic piece of Auckland's red-light district has been snapped up at an auction as a special birthday gift - and the punters were prepared to pay thousands.

Signage from The Pleasure Chest, one of Karangahape Rd's oldest sex shops, was bought for $2662 on a TradeMe auction.

London-based Kiwi Sam Coley's partner thought it would make the perfect 30th birthday gift, so he enlisted the help of the 29-year-old's Auckland friend Wayne Anderson.

"His partner got in touch with me to arrange the auction. It was supposed to be a surprise for Sam's birthday but he recognised my TradeMe user name, so the cat was out of the bag and he knows about it now," said Anderson.

"$2600 wasn't the highest bid we were prepared to make. We would have spent a bit more. Certainly we were expecting to pay thousands more."

Anderson said Coley - who turns 30 in October - was "really happy" with his early birthday gift.

He was planning on moving back to Auckland at some point, so instead of shipping it over to let it take pride of place in his London flat, he is storing it with a friend.

In the meantime, his friends plan to pose with the sign and send him photos of the 80s icon.