MILFORD, N.H. (AP) – The bones of an unknown Civil War soldier made it into an auctioneer’s catalog, much to the distaste of some state officials.

The auctioneer, J.C. Devine Inc., has withdrawn the item.

“They told us they were not going forward,” Attorney General Kelly Ayotte said. “My sense is that’s not something that should be happening, just as a matter of human dignity.”

A photo of the remains on the auction house’s Web site showed an array of items displayed on a red burlap background in a frame: “US” and “NY” buckles, a coin, and what looked like a leg bone and pieces of a jaw with 13 teeth.

The item was listed as “Civil War Items from Gravesite at Haxall’s Landing, Va.”

Haxall’s landing, on the James River near Richmond, Va., was the site of a minor confrontation in July 1862 as part of an unsuccessful Union attempt to capture Richmond, the Confederate capital.

The matter exposes an apparent loophole in New Hampshire law, which doesn’t prevent someone from selling body parts that have come from another state. New Hampshire law outlaws removing body parts from any grave in the state and selling them but is silent on the sale of bones coming from somewhere else.

The sale of human bones is allowed under federal law.

Kenneth Leidner, director of the Statehouse Visitors Center, said he learned a soldier’s remains were on the market at the Bedford auction, scheduled for today, from Dennis Viola, executive director of the State Veterans Council.

Leidner is part of a commission working on a monument to Civil War veterans.

“The plain and simple matter is that everything to do with the Civil War right now is extremely hot and very valuable and we’re seeing an extreme example of this right here,” Leidner said.