In late 18th century Philadelphia, Tufft was one of the city’s most prosperous cabinetmakers. While his shop was not as large or prolific as that of his contemporaries Benjamin Randolph and Thomas Affleck, his rank was likely that of their equal.

Elegance, grace, and delicate carving characterize Thomas Tufft’s furniture. He typically chose a restrained opposing “C” scroll on the knees and a variation of this design can be seen on most of the objects attributed to his shop.

Tufft holds the record for Philadelphia furniture, the Edwards-Harrison Family pier table, when it sold at Christie’s for $4,620,000 (January 1990), becoming the most expensive table in the world. The price was well above the presale estimate of at most $1.5 million.

Two of the last ever shotguns developed by 200-year-old London luxury goods firm Asprey generated a sales of over $120,000 at Christie’s.

The extraordinarily delicate firearms exhibited at the Christie’s Fine Sporting Guns and Rifles sale marked the end of a custom of faultlessly accomplished gun craft.

Asprey engaged in supplying aristocracy and longtime holder of Royal Warrants shut down its gunrooms in 1996 for good, soon after the company was acquired by Prince Jefri of Brunei.

A blue diamond of 13.39 cts. became the most important color diamond sold at auction anywhere in the world during the past 10 years, according to Christie’s.

Offered at auction house’s in Geneva location on Wednesday, it achieved a world record price of $8.9 million.

“This impressive result is due to the scarcity of colored diamonds on the market, and to the great demand from collectors around the world for exceptional artworks and jewels that is currently dominating the auction world,” said François Curiel, chairman of Christie’s Europe. Via JCK

A model poses with a tiara bearing a 101.27-carat shield-shaped diamond during a preview by the Christie’s auction house in Hong Kong on April 22, 2008.

The tiara has an estimated value of 6-7.5 million USD) and will be auctioned at the company’s spring sale of jewels on May 28. Via AFP / USAtoday.

Christie’s will auction a collection of jewellery belonging to Christina Onassis, the daughter of Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis who struggled to find happiness despite her family’s wealth.

More than 40 pieces of jewellery from her collection will go under the hammer in London on June 11, the highlight of which is a pear-shaped, 38-carat D colour potentially flawless diamond which Onassis wore on a diamond pendant necklace.

It is expected to fetch between 1.8 and 2.2 million pounds.

A classic Lucian Freud portrait of a rather plump lady, is predicted to break the world auction record for most expensive painting by a living artist.

The elegantly constructed masterpiece is titled “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping” named after the profession of the sitter.

The painting which was completed in 1995 is expected to fetch $35 million (£18 million) at Christie’s, exceeding the current record of $23.56 million, held since last year by the American artist Jeff Koons.