A 1954 masterpiece from Pablo Picasso broke auction records in Australia when it sold for $6. 9 million. "Sylvette 1954" was auctioned off at Deutscher-Menzies Galleries in Kensington on Wednesday. Gallery art head Tim Abdullah had predicted the painting would fetch between $5 and $ 7 million.

Some of the earliest and most important paintings of the Western Desert art movement were stolen from the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory on Tuesday. Seven pieces of aboriginal paintings, valued at more than $460,000, were recovered hours later after the thief apparently changed his mind and dumped them in a park, police said.

A 'fish in formaldehyde,' a piece of work by artist Damien Hirst that has been displayed for almost a decade at a fish and chips shop will go under the hammer at an auction at Bonhams. It is expected to fetch as much as 150,000 GBP ($202,000 USD) when Bonhams opens the bidding later this year. The fish was given by Hirst in 1994 to Darren Walker who went to school with his brother Bradley. Now Walker plans to use the money he will derive from the auction of the artwork to clear his mortgage. Walker ran the shop until it closed in 2002. For eight years the fish was mounted on a wall without a label beside the counter.

Auction house Sotheby's said Wednesday that rare and precious gemstones are generating a strong following in the Asian region. This as Sotheby's unveiled a 72-carat, flawless white diamond set to be hammered off for $10 million to $12 million in the upcoming Asian sale. Quek Chin announced that this D-color, white stone will be the third largest "pear-shaped" stone ever auctioned globally and the most expensive diamond ever sold at auction in Asia.

More than half a dozen artworks made by a notorious cult killer at the Dorchester Penitentiary in New Brunswick have been added to the collection of "murderabilia" offered for auction by a U. S. website. MurderAuction. com, is a novelty site that rounds up and sells personal effects, artworks, paintings, letters, and other knick knacks owned by, or associated with infamous criminals in recent history to a niche market of crime memorabilia collectors.