Photo

The Brooklyn Bridge may not be for sale, but surplus paint from the span is.

If you’re looking for 500 or so gallons of chocolate brown semi-gloss enamel and about 100 gallons of buff, they could be yours for as little as $3 a gallon. That was the highest bid pending Tuesday with one day left in the public surplus auction by New York’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services.

The city is selling unused paint in some other colors, too, including Pulaski red and aluminum green.

A Transportation Department spokesman explained that most of the paint being auctioned was purchased a decade ago for a short-term touch-up of the bridge’s steel superstructure. Some time later, the city decided it would be more efficient to cover the entire span with a more durable paint after scraping away the old layers to the bare steel.

Some of the other surplus paint, the spokesman said, includes colors that are no longer used on city bridges and cans that have exceeded their recommended shelf life.