ST. PETERSBURG, December 10. /TASS/. Auction participants are ready to pay $185,000 for a dismantled St. Petersburg memorial to Apple computer firm founder Steve Jobs, the monument's originators have announced.

Siting of this two-meter iPhone has been at the center of events linked to the coming out of Apple CEO Tim Cook. And it's been ousted from the northern capital location in deference to Russian law banning propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations among minors.

Today, the creation was put up for sale with a starting price of $92,000, now awaiting the auctioneer's hammer and consignment thereafter to a new home abroad.

The online auction was held from December 1 to 10 on the website of the consortium of Russian companies known as ZEFS, or the Western European Financial Union, responsible for the edifice now fated for crating and carting away. The principal condition for participation in the auction was that the monument would be taken abroad, ZEFS said, adding that the company was ready to defray all expenses for creation and installation of the replacement.

The final decision will be announced at the beginning of the next year, organisers said, promising to use auction proceeds to finance education for young Russian IT specialists.