Art, cash and controversy. It's what British artist Damien Hirst has always courted. But 2007 gave Hirst naysayers something to really complain about: the purchase of a diamond encrusted skull designed by the artist for US$100 million.

Once best known for pickling animals and fish in formaldehyde, Hirst took it to the bank with this glittering transformation of an 18th-century skull laden with 32 platinum plates, 8,601 diamonds and, at its centre, a 52-carat pink diamond.

Called "For the Love of God," this diamond boy's message, says Hirst, was a commentary on the transience of human existence. Flamboyant and showy was how critics pegged it.

Artistic skulduggery? A head-banging success? For now, let's just say them there bones are priceless.

 
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