Macau Billionaire Stanley Ho Bids $330,000 For a Giant Truffle

Florence, Italy (AHN) -Macau casino mogul and billionaire Stanley Ho bid a staggering $330,000 for a giant white truffle at auction Saturday, beating the offers of U.K.-based artist Damien Hirst and Sheik Mansoor Bin Zayed al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi.

The truffle, weighing 1.5 kilograms, is now considered the world's biggest besting the 1.29-kg truffle found in Croatia in 1999, which holds the Guinness World Record.

Ho's bid also topped the previous record for a truffle at $212,000.

Truffle hunter Luciano Savini's dog dug up the highly-prized fungus in Tuscany in northern Italy, on Nov. 23.

"I thought we were going to beat the record, but not to really get to this amount...The biggest truffle of the century and the most expensive truffle of the century. There are no more words to say - it is all very beautiful," said Savini.

Auction organizer Giselle Oberti said the bidding was held simultaneously in Florence, London and at Ho's Grand Lisboa hotel in Macau.

Common truffles weigh only about 30 to 230 grams per piece. White truffles slivers are used to flavor rice dishes and pasta sauces in Italy.

Auction proceeds will go to charity.