A Picasso masterpiece unseen in public for 43 years fetched more than twice its expected price at auction – going for £8.1million at last night’s Christie’s sale.

Tete de Femme (Jacqueline), a 1963 portrait of the artist’s second wife, had not been seen in public since 1967 and was expected to fetch £4million.

Jacqueline had an unusually short neck and it is said that Picasso would jokingly exaggerate its size in his portraits – as in this elongated example.

Gucci has always been vigilant to crack down on counterfeiting and trademark infringement, but now they’re taking a new angle on brand protection.

On January 18, 2010, Gucci and Christie’s will launch “Gucci Collector: Presented by Christie’s”— the very first Gucci-certified online destination for authenticating and appraising vintage Gucci products.

A dedicated section on www.christies.com will allow owners to upload photos of their vintage items and submit an appraisal request.

A letter penned by George Washington praising the new Constitution sold for $3.2 million at an auction, the highest price for a letter by America’s first president.

The four-page letter was written in 1787 to the president’s nephew, Bushrod Washington, and urges adoption of the country’s new constitution.

Last year, a 1864 letter in which President Abraham Lincoln replies to the abolitionist pleas of youth sold for $3.4 million.

Castello de Castagneto Po, the childhood home of French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is up on the market again, and with 40 rooms and 175 acres of lavish landscape, this is one fairy tale home.

A Rembrandt masterpiece is expected to fetch up to £25 million ($41 million) when it goes under the hammer at Christie’s on December 8, 2009.

The painting could break the record price for a Rembrandt, which currently stands at £19,800,000 paid for Portrait Of A Lady Aged 62, in December 2003.

The painting, titled “Portrait of a man, half-length, with his arms akimbo,” was painted in 1658 and has been unseen in public for nearly 40 years.

The famed art auctioneer has signed a lease for 235,000 square feet of warehouse space in Brooklyn. Christie’s will store fine art in the waterfront building.

Christie’s expects to occupy the six-story warehouse building early next year, according to a company spokeswoman.

The company would not say how much it paid for the space, but commercial brokers estimated costs at $8 to $10 per square foot.