New York ? 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.

“I just wanted Bernie’s name on the clubs,” the New Jersey fund manager said with a laugh, adding, “but I don’t want his vibes to be transmitted — my fund is doing better than his.”

Two pairs of Ruth Madoff’s diamond dangle earrings sold for $70,000 each, against a pre-sale estimate of no more than $9,800 and $21,400. But the most highly prized item in the sale, one of Bernard Madoff’s 17 Rolex watches, fetched only $65,000, paid by an unknown buyer. The watch was valued between $75,000 and $85,000.

The auction was organized by the U.S. Marshals Service, which seized the couple’s properties — a penthouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and houses in Montauk, N.Y., and Palm Beach, Fla.

Inside the homes were some of the items on the block Saturday, ordered forfeited as part of Madoff’s sentencing after he pleaded guilty in a multibillion-dollar fraud that burned thousands of investors. Proceeds from the auction will be divided among his victims.