2007 will be remembered for many things, but perhaps the most surprising moniker is this:

The Year of The Diamond Skull.

OK, so maybe that’s fudging it a little bit. But, for $100 million, Damien Hirst’s odd but awe-inspiring melding of bones and bling (to be more accurate, only the teeth were real; the skull was made of platinum, but molded from an 18th-century man) was among the most hyped auction sales this past year – and there were many, many more.

From a pair of Francis Bacon paintings (“Bullfight” and “self portrait” drew a combined $88.9 million) to a 710-year-old copy of the Magna Carta (which pulled in a cool $21.3 million), 2007 auction sales were varied and treasured to a degree that was previously unimaginable (about as unimaginable as, say, a diamond-encrusted platinum skull).

Other notable auction pieces included: a 5,000-year-old white limestone sculpture from ancient Mesopotamia (take that, 18th-century skull!); a nine-foot-tall, stainless steel, hot pink heart by Jeff Koons; and an 84.37-carat, D-color flawless diamond.

Which, come to think of it, would go perfectly with a $100 million diamond skull.

Via Born Rich