On the opening day of the two-day auction the vintage cars were available at under 640 euros apiece, but on Saturday the price tag had already gone up to 800.
The cheapest lot went for just 1 euro. None of the 128 antiquated cars remained unsold.
Late last year and early this saw a spike in the number of refugees from the Middle East and Africa massing on the Russian-Finnish border.
The so-called “Northern route” had been chosen after Norway decided to tighten border zone security. Banned from crossing the border on foot, the asylum seekers bought long-used cars in Russia, mostly rusty Soviet-era Ladas, Volgas and Moskvichs from the 1970s and 1980s, and drove them to the border.
After crossing the Finnish border, they left their ramshackle vehicles behind.
