The rich smell of inflation

Matthew Lynn

Diamonds are the wealthy"s best friend at the moment - not to mention vintage cars, antiques, fine art and football

It does not matter how bedecked in jewels they might be. Nor how much history is contained within their shells. A $100m would be a lot to pay for some eggs - unless, that is, you happen to be a Russian billionaire. Earlier this month, Viktor Vekselberg, one of Russia"s richest men, bought the world"s largest private collection of Faberge Imperial Easter Eggs from the family of Malcolm Forbes. The nine eggs were scheduled for auction at Sotheby"s and were expected to fetch $70m to $100m. The actual sale price was not disclosed, but there were more likely to be nine, not eight, digits on the...