Stanley Ho bangs Damien Hirst with $330,000 White Truffle

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 auction raised a total of $453,000, with the proceeds going to different charities in each country: The Consortium for Street Children in the U.K.; the Telethon in Italy and Caritas in China. The association aims to promote and protect the Tuscan truffle and to support the hunters who unearth them with dogs. - Source: By Elite Choice

What is a Truffle?

The following information in Wisegeek explains what truffles are: "Truffles are a rare and delicate type of edible mushroom that grow mainly in France, Italy, Croatia and Slovenia; truffles are also collected in the United States in Oregon and Washington. Truffles grow underground among the roots of oak, elm, chestnut, pine and willow trees where they form a symbiotic relationship with their environment. Duplicating these conditions for growing truffles commercially is not feasible or cost-effective on a wide scale, hence their high price"

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