Eigg was served up to former owner Maruma at breakfast - on a napkin, it has been claimed.
A Hamburg-based broker has told how late-night negotiations between the buyer and former owner Keith Schellenberg in 1995 were concluded at 7am with a contract just scribbled on a paper serviette.
International islands broker Farhad Vladi was the go-between when the 7400-acre island was sold by Mr Schellenberg to Mr Marlin Eckhard Maruma.
In an interview for BBC Gaelic TV, screened last night, Mr Vladi angered islanders by claiming some of them seemed unable to run a small farm, never mind an island.
Mr Vladi, owner of the Vladi Private Islands brokerage, claimed German artist Maruma and Mr Schellenberg haggled into the night at Schellenberg's Isle of Eigg Lodge and used a paper serviette to note details of the deal.
He told the programme, Faobhar (The Sharp Edge), that by 7am negotiations were concluded. Details of a draft contract, including an agreed #1.5m price, were just scribbled on the serviette.
''The serviette was then sent to lawyers to draw up the full contract,'' Mr Vladi claimed.
It is the first time the broker has publicly discussed his role in the sale. He was also handled the sale in June this year to a local trust, returning Eigg to public ownership for the first time in 250 years.
On both occasions, Eigg changed hands for #1.5m after a court action for debts forced Maruma to part with the island for less than his #2m asking price.
Mrs Maggie Fyffe, secretary of the new public landlords, Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust, said: ''It's amazing. It just shows what has been happening and how people's lives were just scribbles on a serviette.
''Frankly, this shows just what is wrong with private land ownership.''
Mr Vladi was also critical of some of the islanders. He suggested some wanted to become landlords but did not want to work, which he claimed would cause problems.
Mr Vladi also said that of the islanders he had met he doubted if some could run a farm successfully - ''even the smallest farm''.
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