What is the current value of sex? An auction in New York in mid-March was due to give us some idea, when among its lots was the internet domain sex.com.

Bought by its current owner, Escom, in 2006 for GBP9.3million (US$14million), it is being offered for sale as the company has defaulted on a loan it used to buy the property, according to a Reuters report.

Ahead of the sale, bids of more than $1million were being sought.

Among its former owners are the keeper of another very well known domain, Match.com, Gary Kremen, who founded the dating site in 1994. A book, The Sex.com Chronicles, has even been published charting its chequered history. This claimed that, at one stage, the domain was earning its owner more than $15,000 a day.

The sale of domain names is a huge, and growing, business. The highest amount paid so far for a single domain is GBP1.65million (US$2.5million), for www.pizza.com.

The provider of the loan which is now in default, DOM Partners, said that Escom has been in arrears with payments for more than a year.

But Richard Maltz, an auctioneer at Maltz Auctions who is running the sale, said on Monday there was considerable interest in it.

“We don’t know who’s serious and who’s not, but prospective bidders need a $1 million certified cheque. It should be interesting,” he told Reuters.