Mexican painter Rufino Tamayo`s sprawling `America` fetched 6.8 million dollars, just under pre-auction estimate, at Sotheby`s Latin American art auction that showed the effects of the ongoing financial crisis.

The nephew of Herge, author of the comic-book boy reporter Tintin, will auction off some of his uncle`s sketches, photos and letters in Paris on Friday, a Belgian newspaper reported.

Georges Remi said he had `some misgivings` about the sale of the items, which belonged to his Belgian uncle of the same name -- Herge was his famous pen name.

The nephew of Herge, author of the comic-book boy reporter Tintin, will auction off some of his uncle`s sketches, photos and letters in Paris on Friday, a Belgian newspaper reported.

Georges Remi said he had `some misgivings` about the sale of the items, which belonged to his Belgian uncle of the same name -- Herge was his famous pen name.

VIENNA, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - A rare Leica camera fetched a world-record price of 336,000 euros (492,000 dollars) for cameras of its type at auction in Vienna Saturday, newsagency APA reported.

The tiny portable black camera dating from 1923 becomes the most expensive small camera in the world and the second most expensive camera ever sold at auction.

It was bought by an anonymous European collector.

The Leica camera was the seventh of a series made in Germany to test the market for portable cameras, and intended for export to New York.

DUBAI, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - A shirt belonging to the emir of Dubai was sold for 4.35 million dollars (3.0 million euros) at an auction on Friday to raise funds for a children's education charity, organisers said.

In all, the 12 items donated by prominent political and entertainment figures in the Gulf emirate netted 8.44 million dollars.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who is also vice president of the United Arab Emirates, wore the short when he won the equestrian endurance world cup in Spain in 2000.

PARIS, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - Alain Delon, the 71-year-old star of French cinema, sold part of his huge art collection for a better-than-expected 8.7 million euros (12.4 million dollars) at a Paris auction on Monday.

The most expensive work, a large 1954 painting by Jean-Paul Riopelle titled 'La vallee de l'oiseau' (The Valley of the Bird), sold for 882,740 euros (1.25 million dollars), or 750,000 euros (1.06 million dollars) excluding fees, the Cornette de Saint-Cyr auction house said.

LONDON, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) - A painting originally handed over by Francis Bacon to cover the rent on his west London studio was the highlight of a record-breaking Christie's auction of post-war and contemporary art on Sunday.

'Study from the Human Body, Man Turning on the Light' -- which Bacon originally gave to the Royal College of Art in 1969 as rent for a Cromwell Road studio -- fetched 8,084,500 pounds (11,528,497 euros, 16,371,113 dollars), as the Christie's auction totalled 39.8 million pounds.

LONDON, Oct 13, 2007 (AFP) - The record price for a Chinese contemporary artwork was smashed in London on Friday, Sotheby's auction house said, for a painting based on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing.

Yue Minjun's 'Execution' fetched 2,932,500 pounds (5,964,700 dollars, 4,210,300 euros) after two telephone bidders battled it out. The pre-sale estimate was between 1.5 and two million pounds.

The previous highest price paid at auction for a Chinese avant-garde artist was set in June for Yue's 1997 work 'The Pope' for 2.15 million pounds.

PARIS, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Alain Delon, 71-year-old star of French cinema, is selling off part of his huge art collection at a Paris auction next week estimated to ring up between 4.6 and 6.2 million euros (6.5 to 8.7 million dollars).

Bidding farewell to the 40 oils from the 1950s -- including works by Hartung, De Stael and Soulages -- a smiling Delon on Thursday night said to AFP: 'Why be sad, given it was me that decided they go.'

YANGON, Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - Military-ruled Myanmar said Thursday it will hold a new auction of gems and jade next month, despite calls for a boycott on precious stones from the country.

The official New Light of Myanmar newspaper said the sale would take place from November 7-19, the fifth such auction this year.

The announcement came in the wake of a violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters that left at least 13 dead and drew international condemnation, in the biggest anti-government rallies in nearly 20 years.