Giant
Truffle Auctioned for $330,000
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Italian
truffle hunter and trader Cristiano Savini holds a 1.5kg (3.3lb)
white truffle of Tuscany, left while Angela Leong, right,
wife of Macau tycoon Stanley Ho, won the bid for US$330,000
during an auction in Macau Saturday Dec. 1, 2007. The unusually
heavy truffle was dug up last week by truffle hunter Cristiano
Savini, his father Luciano and dog Rocco in Palaia, a town
about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Pisa. The Savinis said
Rocco started sniffing "like crazy" when he zeroed
in on the fungus. (AP Photo/Ho Chon In) |
FLORENCE,
Italy (AP) - A Macau casino mogul bid a record $330,00
at auction Saturday to win a giant white truffle dug up in Tuscany,
organizers said. Billionaire Stanley Ho made the winning bid for
the 3.3 pound truffle during an auction staged simultaneously
in Florence, London and at Ho's Grand Lisboa hotel in Macau, said
auction organizer Giselle Oberti.
The price bested
the previous record for a truffle of $212,000, she said.
The unusually heavy
truffle was dug up last week by truffle hunter Cristiano Savini,
his father Luciano and dog Rocco in Palaia, a town about 25 miles
from Pisa. The Savinis said Rocco started sniffing "like
crazy" when he zeroed in on the fungus.
Guinness World
Records lists a 2.86 pound white truffle found in Croatia in 1999
as the biggest.
Truffles usually
weigh from 1 to 2.8 ounces apiece. Slivers of white truffles,
with their strong aroma, are prized in Italy to flavor pasta sauces
and rice dishes.
Proceeds from the
auction were to go to an Italian organization that helps sufferers
of genetic diseases, a group that helps street children in London
and Catholic charities in Macau.
Calls to Ho weren't
immediately returned late Saturday.
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