An unused life jacket from the doomed transatlantic cruise ship “Titanic,” which struck an iceberg in 1912 and sank, fetched 68,500 dollars at auction at Christie’s in New York late Wednesday.

The cork-filled life preserver - still largely intact, but stained and torn in parts - was thought to have been found by farmer John James Dunbar on the Halifax shoreline after the passenger ship sank off Newfoundland in April, 1912.

The liner sank during its maiden voyage from the British port of Southampton to New York when it hit an iceberg, causing some 1,500 people to die.

A Claude Monet painting has fetched a record £40.9m ($80.5 million) for the artist’s work at an auction in London.

“Le Bassin aux Nympheas” had been expected to fetch 18-24 million pounds, but after an intense bidding battle it smashed the previous Monet auction record (Le Pont du chemin de fer a Argenteuil ) of $41.5 million set in May.
Painted in 1919 in Giverny in France it has been seen in public just once in the past 80 years. The identity of the bidder has not been made public.

It was part of the evening sale of impressionist and modern art at Christie’s which raised 144 million pounds ($283 million), the highest total for an auction in Europe. All figures include buyers’ premiums.

Art expert Charles Dupplin said despite “current financial jitters around the world” art lovers are still willing to pay money for “exquisite, unique items”. He added: “Art lovers everywhere should be cheered to see that, despite gloomy predictions, the art market looks to have a healthy future.”

A diamond necklace that used to belong to Christina Onassis, daughter of Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis, sold at auction on Wednesday for $7.1 million.

The necklace, with a 38-carat pear-shaped diamond, was the highlight of the Onassis jewelery auction at Christie’s in London. It is a reminder of the glamour associated with the Onassis family and a fitting example of the great jewelry and art the Onassis family was known for collecting

Christina Onassis was the only daughter of Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, who went on to marry JF Kennedy’s widow Jacqueline.
She lived a life of luxury, but there was tragedy too, as she lost both her parents and a brother within the space of two years. Christina died in 1987 of a heart attack. She was just 37 years old.
Her jewelery collection was put on sale by her daughter Athina.

The auction also included the so-called Faberge Buddha which sold for $2.5 million : This was a jade-colored Buddha by Peter Carl Faberge, renowned for creating ornamental eggs for Russia’s imperial family.

A 101.27 carat diamond (the size of a ping pong ball), has been sold at auction in Hong Kong for more than $6 millions usd.

The stone was cut from a 460 carat rough diamond, and has 92 facets. It was discovered in South Africa’s biggest diamond mine, Premier Mine, which is where the world’s largest rough diamond, the Cullinan Diamond, was also found.

The stone is the largest colourless diamond to appear at auction in 18 years, says auction house Christie’s, and it was also the largest ever sold in Asia.

Christie’s said the diamond’s appearance on the market had “created a sensation” : “the crowd at the event was “flabbergasted” by the high prices on display”.
“The world record price for the colourless diamond sale was broken…the atmosphere in the room was very excited”. “People were looking right, looking left, we were breaking world records all the time. They couldn’t believe their eyes.” It was put up for sale by an anonymous private individual and bought by a first-time auction buyer from Hong Kong who bid over the telephone.

The new owner will have the right to name the diamond !

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.