Shanghai, Sep 2 (IANS) Many people, who bought the Bank of China’s gold fuwa dolls, mascots of the Beijing Olympic Games, are today feeling duped since these dolls have started rusting despite having been sold as made of ’99.9 percent fine gold!

China’s state television CCTV in a report stated the Bank of China’s gold fuwa dolls (good luck dolls), mascots of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and said to be made of ’99.9 percent fine gold’ are ‘rusting’, Shanghai Daily reported.

A man surnamed Chen from China’s eastern Jiangsu province said he spent 28,600 yuan ($4,480) on 38 of the dolls issued by the bank in December 2007. But he found ‘rust stains’ on the dolls’ bodies last November, CCTV reported last week.

Chen said he bought the dolls as an investment and put them on a wardrobe at his home. On inspecting them three years later, he found red stains all over them.

‘I tried to remove the rust by wiping or scraping the dolls, but it did not work,’ he said.

A certificate with the dolls stats they have been made of 99.9 percent fine gold, limited to 10,000 pieces, and approved by the Beijing Organising Committee.

According to CCTV, other buyers in Shandong, Shanghai and Nanjing have complained about similar stains.

However, Doll’s manufacturer Shenzhen Eastern Gold Jade, said the ‘rust’ spots were probably a result of the 0.1 percent impurity.

An official surnamed Liu said the company used electroforming techniques, but during the process some impurities may have been left on the surface.

He insisted the dolls were 99.9 percent fine gold, claiming they were inspected by a national supervising authority.

Chen, meanwhile, claimed the Bank of China had offered purchasers a full refund but it rejected the deal because the price of gold doubled since 2007.

Bank officials did not confirm offering compensation, saying that they were investigating.