11 July 2012 Last updated at 07:42 ET

London 2012: 1948 torch converted into lamp auctioned

The torch is one of 1,720 designed by British architect Ralph Laver

A 1948 Olympic torch carried through Kent and later converted into a lamp has been sold at auction for £1,100.

It was one of 1,720 designed by British architect Ralph Lavers to transport the flame from Olympia to London.

Royal Marine Eric Dance was one of 48 runners who took the flame overnight from Dover to Wembley via Canterbury.

He later used his torch to pay a bar bill at a boarding house in Deal, and the landlady converted it into an electric lamp and put it on display.

The torch was bought by a collector from the north of England following the sale on Tuesday at the Canterbury Auction Galleries.

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Auctioneer Tony Pratt said because it had been altered "it was always going to be more difficult to sell" but that a reasonable price had been paid for it.

The aluminium torch consists of a flared bowl pierced in three panels with five Olympic Rings, with "XIVTH Olympiad 1948, Olympia to London with Thanks to the Bearer" engraved on it.

It was one of 80 torches carried on the section between Dover and Wembley in 73 stages covering about 158 miles (255km).

It was adapted into an electric table lamp with an oak tray base by Nellie Wakefield, who was the landlady of the licensed boarding house, Smugglers' Cove.

She kept it for a number of years, taking it with her when she retired.

She subsequently gave it to her neighbour as a gift, who owned it for 35 years before deciding to sell it.