The Ponahalo Diamonds, the two rectangular stones cut from a 316.15-carat piece of rough mined in South Africa, sold for more than $6 million at a Christie’s auction held on Wednesday in New York City.

The buyer, Amer Radwan of Radwan Diamond and Jewelry Trading in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, paid $4.11 million for the 102.11-carat Ponahalo diamond, while the smaller stone, weighing in at 70.87 carats, sold for $2.15 million.

The Ponahalo diamonds are the world’s largest Forevermark stones. Forevermark is the diamond brand recently launched by De Beers.

The stones were the highlight of Christie’s “Jewels: The New York Sale” and “Superb 20th Century Jewels from an American Collection” sales, held on Wednesday in New York City. The sales totaled $29.4 million.

One of the rarest and most desirable works of art from the Islamic world, a carved rock crystal ewer from the Fatimid Royal Treasury, dating to the late 10th to early 11th century AD, will be offered at the strongest sale of Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds ever staged at Christie’s, on Tuesday 7 October 2008.

Estimated to realise in excess of £3 million ($5.3 million), this Fatimid ewer is one of only seven fully- carved known surviving examples and the first and only one to be offered on the open market.

Few objects evoke the richness of mediaeval Islamic culture as much as the small group of carved rock crystal ewers made for the court of the Fatimid rulers of Cairo in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. One of these is the treasure at the centre of this sale. It is further embellished with enamelled gold mounts, illustrated right, made in 1854, by the French silversmith Jean-Valentin Morel, who was appointed Goldsmith to Queen Victoria in 1852

This is an historic opportunity for private collectors and institutions around the world. The auction is anticipated to sport an amazing grouping of exceptional artworks ranging from diverse geographical areas, materials and time and is expected to generate over £11 million ($19 million).

After an absence of seven years, Christie’s wine department will be back in Asia for an auction on 29 Nov 2008 at the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Centre and it will open Christie’s Hong Kong Fall 2008 Sale Season.

Christie’s International Wine Department will conduct a focused sale of fine wine including select offerings from the cellars of first growth, Château Latour.

Christie’s Hong Kong sales totaled HK $2.4 billion in Spring 2008, the highest total ever achieved for any auction season in Asia.

The evening sale will feature around 250 selected lots, with 150 lots from Château Latour. One of the top prizes is a 1900 magnum estimated at $18,000 - $24,000. The Latour selection in its entirety is expected to realize in excess of HK $10 million.

Alongside the unique offering from Château Latour will be a further range of fine and rare wines, all sourced from impeccable European cellars, including rare Pétrus and other First Growth Bordeaux, a selection of exceptional Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, vintage Champagne and venerable Vintage Port and Old Cognacs.

The first auction devoted solely to contemporary design will take place at Christie’s in New York this autumn.

“It really is an increasingly popular market,” said Carina Villinger, design specialist of Christie’s New York. “There is a huge overlap with contemporary art. It has got to the point where we need a separate auction.

The Christie’s sale will feature items such as a polyurethane table by the London-based Iranian architect Zaha Hadid, who designed the aquatics centre for the London Olympics, estimated to raise $200,000.

Another lot will be a highly polished steel sofa by the British-born Israeli designer Ron Arad for $300,000. Arad’s work will be exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York next year.That sofa is made of steel that’s polished to match the reflection of a real mirror!

The drum skin used on the cover of The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper album has sold for £541,250 ($1.07m) at auction in London, almost four times the estimate.

The skin was a hand-painted item that was only ever used for the cover of the classic 1967 album.
Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was not only one of The Beatles biggest albums, it was also one of the most important albums ever from the rock era.

The Beatles began recording the album on December 6, 1966 and spent the next 129 days in recording. That was an amazing time for a recording in the 60s.

The Sgt Pepper skin was just one of many Beatles items that sold at the auction : a pair of tinted prescription sunglasses belonging to Lennon, which the singer wore for the cover of the single Mind Games, raised £39,650 ($78,400) and the hand-written lyrics to “Give Peace A Chance” sold for £421,250 ($833,000). Source: BBC

Christie’s sold last week Jeff Koon’s Ballon Flower (Magenta) for $25,752,051, a world record price for the artist at auction.

This work is one of five unique versions: Magenta, Blue, Orange, Yellow, Red and was executed between 1995 and 1999.

Balloon Flower (Magenta) 1995-2000 is from a top Dallas art collector who paid less than £600,000 for it seven years ago. It was the first time a work of this scale and quality by Koons were publicly offered in London.