The long anticipated wait for the sale of Italian white truffle came to an end lately when Macau billionaire Stanley Ho made the highest bid of record $330,000 for a white truffle at a charity auction across the three cities of London, Florence and Macau. The bid thrashed the contending bids from the U.K-based artist Damien Hirst and Sheik Mansoor Bin Zayed al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi.
The 1.5-kilogram (3.3 pounds) tuber magnatum pico, a largest truffle was identified on 23 November by an italian truffle hunter who spent almost an hour digging down 80cm (2.6ft) uncovered in half a century near Pisa. Later, Cristiano and Luciano Savini donated the truffle to the International Tuscan Truffle Auction. The event, in its fifth year, was held simultaneously ON 1 December in London, Florence and Macau. The previous record for a truffle was $212,000.
The sales generation has beaten a previous record of $212,000. The total sales generated out of this auction stood at $453,000 and the earnings would be donated to diverse charities across countries including the Consortium for Street Children in the U.K; the Telethon in Italy and Caritas in China.
Via Bloomberg
