Flawless blue diamond sells for record œ6.2m at auction

October 7th, 2009 HONG KONG - A piece of graffiti by Hong Kong's self-proclaimed "King of Kowloon" has sold for a record 500,000 Hong Kong dollars ($65,000), auction house Sotheby's confirmed Wednesday. The piece by the late Tsang Tsou-choi, featuring rows of Chinese calligraphy on canvas, attracted fierce bidding in Sotheby's Asian art auction Tuesday.

September 30th, 2009 LONDON - A diamond the size of a chicken egg and worth an estimated 12 million pounds has been found at the Cullinan mine northeast of Pretoria. One of the world's biggest-ever sparklers - a 507.55-carat whopper - was showed off by mining group Petra Diamonds' chief executive Johan Dippenaar.

September 29th, 2009 JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's Cullinan mine, the source of the world's biggest diamond, has produced yet another unusually large, high-quality diamond, the mining company that made the find announced Tuesday. Petra Diamonds said the 507-carat gem was found alongside three more rough diamonds found at the mine Sep 24.

September 18th, 2009 HONG KONG - A single Chinese stamp with a face value of 3 cents has sold for a world record $332,000 at a Hong Kong auction, a news report said Saturday. The 1897 Qing dynasty stamp was bought by a Beijing collector at an auction Friday and set a new world record for a single Chinese stamp, the South China Morning Post reported.

September 16th, 2009 SYDNEY - A box of 12 Australian mangoes received a record bid price of $40,000 at a fundraiser here. The Age reported that Sydney Markets staged its 19th annual charity auction Wednesday to mark the official start of the mango season and raise money for the Westmead Children's Hospital and the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.

September 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - A rare Chinese 19th century stamp, valued at around 258,000 dollars, is expected to set the record at a philatelic auction in Hong Kong next month. The auction will feature offerings from several Asian countries, and more than 1500 lots of rare and fine Chinese and other Asian stamps with an estimated value of over 1.55 million dollars will go under the hammer.

August 18th, 2009 LONDON - A cheating husband showered his wife with expensive jewellery every time he repeated infidelity, leading her to gather a collection worth almost 300,000 pounds. Businessman Robert Charlton, from Leicester, UK, made up for breaking his wedding vows by gifting diamond jewels to wife Elizabeth, who was apparently aware of his extra-marital activities.

August 7th, 2009 GLASGOW - McTear's Auctioneers in Glasgow have sold a Macallan 50th anniversary bottle of whiskey for a record 11,750 pounds, including a buyer's premium of 17.5 per cent. The whiskey was distilled more than 80 years ago and has become the most expensive spirit of its type to be sold at auction, The Daily Express reports.

July 14th, 2009 LONDON - The Cornish bay that inspired Virginia Woolf to pen her famous novel 'To the Lighthouse' has fetched 80,000 pounds at an auction. The plot, the Upton Towans beach, stretching from Hale, near St Ives, to the lighthouse on Godrevy Island, was acquired by a private buyer.

April 8th, 2009 LONDON - Renowned pop legend Neil Diamond may end up matching tunes with Limp Bizkit rocker Fred Durst. The two got in touch using social networking site Twitter.com with Durst approaching the 68-year-old for a collaboration.

March 24th, 2009 LONDON - English glamour model Nicola McLean has revealed that wearing an Indian bindi makes her feel complete and extra special. McLean, 25, who is wearing a bindi, which is an Indian piece of jewellery or cosmetic mark, on her forehead, is from Hamilton, Lanarkshire, and she has been the face of top jewellers Rox, who are designing a diamond bindi in honour of this year's tenth Miss Scotland contest.

March 17th, 2009 LONDON - A grand piano played by rock and roll legend Elvis Presley is expected to fetch a whopping $1 million at an auction. The white Knabe piano, which was installed at the singer's Graceland home in Memphis, Tennessee, is among the items at a rock and roll memorabilia sale, reported contactmusic.com The auction also features one of Presley's most famous stage outfits - a gold and blue jumpsuit and cape.

March 14th, 2009 LONDON - Pop star Michael Jackson's lawyers have given the green light for an auction of the singer's personal property, just weeks after they moved the court to stop the sale. They sued Julien's Auction House earlier this month, claiming that it was not "entitled to retain possession of Michael Jackson's personal property".

March 13th, 2009 LONDON - Former 'Friends' star Jennifer Aniston's musiscian beau John Mayer has approached top US jeweller Lorraine Schwartz to custom-make a two milion pounds engagement ring for his girlfriend. Schwartz has earlier created rings for celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Heidi Klum and Beyonce Knowles.

March 5th, 2009 LONDON - Pop star Michael Jackson is suing the company that is trying to auction off things owned by him. Some of the items on sale include the hands from the movie 'Edward Scissorhands', rhinestone gloves and socks, a robe and the gates from his ranch, reports TMZ.com.