Handbag used in Hurricanes assault reached $22,750, New Zealand

June 5, 2006

The handbag used to hit Super 14 Hurricanes player, Chris Masoe by Tana Umanga after Masoe had punched a patron has just been sold on the New Zealand auction site, Trade Me. The brawl occurred in a Christchurch pub, The Jolly Poacher. Masoe was fined $3,000 for his actions, but Umanga received no punishment.

The confirmed winning bid was $22,750 (NZD) from Sue Langmaid, a.k.a. susie45, Wanganui, on behalf of an anonymous friend. There were numerous fake bids placed, one reaching one hundred million dollars.

The original owner of the bag, 22-year-old Nichole Davis, Christchurch said to the Sunday Star Times "At the moment I'm thinking it's pretty crazy. It's right up there. I thought I would get $600. I'm thinking it's an insane amount of money. I'll worry about it if it actually comes through. Right now I just want to relax. I've definitely been lucky and it's quite like winning Lotto."

The auction page got over one million page views, which made the site trademe.co.nz unusable for ten minutes.