KEY POINTS:
First sniffed out by a mongrel dog in the woods of Tuscany, the biggest white truffle unearthed in half a century fetched a record US$330,000 ($430,500) at a charity auction.
The knobbly, soil-encrusted 1.5kg white tuber was finally claimed by Hong Kong billionaire Stanley Ho.
Bidding was linked by satellite between Macau, Florence and London's Refettorio restaurant. Giorgio Locatelli, consultant chef at Refettorio, took instructions from the artist Damien Hirst over a mobile phone. He bowed out at US$130,000.
The value was heightened by a dry summer which has made white truffles - the fungal equivalent of caviar - more precious than ever. Trade prices hit £3500 a kilo at the start of the brief season, from October to December. A truffle has to be consumed within 20 days of being unearthed.
- OBSERVER
