This being Hong Kong, it's no surprise that many of the biggest society stories of 2007 centred on who bought what and for how much. And no one bought more than Joseph Lau Luen-hung.
The 55-year-old property tycoon went on a shopping spree in 2007 (as in years past), snapping up Andy Warhol's famous painting of Mao Zedong for US$17.4 million and Paul Gauguin's 1892 painting Te Poipoi (The Morning) for US$39.2 million - the highest amount ever paid by a Hongkonger for an artwork. It was a steal considering its presale estimate was US$60 million and Mr Lau had reportedly been prepared to spend US$70 million.
Of course he had to have a way of getting it home from the Sotheby's auction in New York and what better way than in a private Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a plane normally configured to carry up to 300 passengers. Mr Lau obviously wasn't put off by the US$153 million price tag - he's ordered four more 'for friends'. The May purchase was the sixth private jet he bought for himself this year.
In September Mr Lau spent HK$1.4 million for a licence plate - '1 LOVE U' - ostensibly for the car that drives him to his jet. Altogether he has spent HK$40 million on car tags for himself and those lucky friends of his.
Casino mogul Stanley Ho Hung-sun spent HK$2.57 million on his friends, buying a 1.5kg truffle for a dinner party he didn't even attend. The deal topped a fungus purchased for HK$1.25 million last year by Sir Gordon Wu Ying-sheung and his wife, Lady Ivy Wu Kwok Sau-ping. Mr Ho outbid the British artist Damien Hirst in the annual International Tuscan Truffle Auction held simultaneously in London, Florence and Macau.
September saw the uber-exclusive annual Argyle Pink Diamond Tender, but if you had to ask where it was held, you weren't invited. Individual viewings of the 65 diamonds were held in a secret location and the results of the auction - the world's only private auction of rare pink diamonds - likewise remained a closely guarded secret. The reason: pink diamonds often go for as much as 20 times more than boring old white diamonds, fetching up to US$400,000 per carat.