Alt/Finance covers 9 alternative asset categories through dedicated datasets: Luxury Watches (1M+ transactions, 640+ brands, 137 years of history), Jewelry & Gemstones (1.2M+ transactions, 560+ brands, 130 years of history), Fine Art (500K+ transactions, 10,000+ artists), Classic Cars (300K+ transactions, 200+ marques, 3,000+ models), Luxury Handbags (200K+ transactions, 322+ brands), Wine & Spirits (200K+ transactions, 3,000+ wine types), Aircraft & Private Jets (2,000+ models), Motorcycles (1,500+ models), and Collectibles. Each dataset includes sale prices, estimates, auction house, sale date, location, lot details, condition data, and designer/brand classification.

We track 200+ auction houses and secondary market sources globally, including: Major international houses — Christie's, Sotheby's, Phillips, Bonhams. Automotive specialists — RM Sotheby's, Gooding & Company, Barrett-Jackson, Artcurial, Mecum. Wine specialists — Acker Merrall & Condit, Hart Davis Hart, Zachys. Regional specialists — Drouot network (France), Dorotheum (Austria), Koller (Switzerland), and auction houses across Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas.

It varies by category. Watches and jewelry have the deepest history, going back to the late 1800s. Most categories have comprehensive daily coverage from 2000 onward. Specific ranges: Watches from 1889, Jewelry & Gems from 1896, Classic Cars from 1976, Wine & Spirits from 1999, Fine Art from 2000, Handbags from 2006, Motorcycles from 2006, and Aircraft from 2011.

All datasets are updated daily. New auction results are typically available within 24 hours of the sale closing. Historical records are continuously enriched — we regularly backfill fields like designer classification, brand mapping, FX-normalized pricing, and condition grading as our enrichment pipeline improves.

Alt/Finance aggregates data primarily from published auction house results. Our pipeline follows a standardized 7-step process: (1) Capture raw results from auction house websites, (2) Classify each lot by category using AI-assisted classification, (3) Insert to a staging environment for quality review, (4) Run automated data quality checks, (5) Promote to production after passing QA, (6) Normalize currency to USD using nearest-date exchange rates, (7) Enrich with brand/designer classification, company mapping, and additional metadata. We do not scrape or estimate prices — every transaction is a verified published result.

All sale prices are converted to USD using the nearest-date exchange rate from our reference table, which covers 27 currencies from 1999 to present. This allows clean time-series analysis across geographies without currency fluctuation noise. The original sale currency and local price are preserved alongside the USD-normalized amount. For currencies that don't convert directly to USD (like Dutch Guilders or Italian Lira), we route through the EUR as an intermediate step.

Every transaction is linked to its parent company — publicly traded or private — through our company reference table. This means you can query all auction results for brands owned by LVMH (Louis Vuitton, TAG Heuer, Bulgari, Hublot), Richemont (Cartier, IWC, Vacheron Constantin, Piaget), or Kering (Gucci, Boucheron, Ulysse Nardin) and correlate transaction volumes with equity performance. The mapping includes company name, country, stock ticker, exchange, and company status.

Unsold lots (lots that did not meet their reserve price) are included in our database with the appropriate status flag. This is critical for calculating accurate sell-through rates, which are a key market health indicator. You can filter for sold-only or include unsold lots in your analysis.

We offer multiple access channels: REST API — Programmatic access returning JSON, with full documentation at docs.altfndata.com. Dashboard — Browser-based visual analytics starting at $99/month. Bulk Data Feeds — Full dataset exports in CSV, JSON, or Apache Parquet. AWS Data Exchange — Native AWS integration. MCP Connector for Claude AI — Query data conversationally inside Anthropic's Claude. Data Sandbox — Free evaluation at sandbox.altfndata.com with schemas, sample tables, and a SQL editor.

Yes. Alt/Finance is available as an MCP (Model Context Protocol) connector inside Anthropic's Claude. Once connected, you can ask questions in natural language — for example: "What was the average auction price for a Rolex Daytona in 2025?" or "Compare jewelry auction volume between Christie's and Sotheby's over the past 5 years" — and get data-backed answers in real time.

Yes. The Alt/Finance Data Sandbox (sandbox.altfndata.com) provides free access to complete data schemas and column definitions, data dictionaries, sample datasets for evaluation, and an interactive SQL query editor. You can also request a full API or dashboard trial by contacting us through the website.

Investment firms use our data across several strategies: Alternative asset allocation — Build quantitative return/volatility models for collectibles as an asset class. Luxury sector equity signals — Correlate auction hammer rates with LVMH (MC.PA), Richemont (CFR.SW), and Sotheby's (BID) stock performance. Wealth effect indicators — HNWI auction spending as a leading indicator of consumer confidence. Collateral valuation — Pricing benchmarks for asset-backed lending. Family office portfolio analytics — Performance reporting for clients holding collectible assets.

Three key differentiators: (1) Multi-category — 9 asset categories in one platform and API. Competitors cover single verticals: WatchCharts and Chrono24 cover only watches, Artnet covers only art. (2) Company mapping — Every transaction linked to parent companies (LVMH, Richemont, Kering) for equity correlation. No other provider does this. (3) Institutional infrastructure — FX-normalized pricing, daily updates, REST API, Parquet exports, and a Claude AI connector built for quantitative workflows.

Yes. Our daily-updated historical data with FX-normalized pricing is specifically designed for time-series analysis and backtesting. Common approaches include price index construction, correlation analysis against S&P 500 or luxury sector indices, sell-through rate analysis as a leading indicator for luxury earnings, and portfolio optimization with collectibles as an alternative allocation sleeve. Data is available in Parquet format for direct use in Python, R, or any analytics platform.

We offer tiered access: Dashboard Pass — Starting at $99/month for visual analytics and market performance views. API Access — Tiered by query volume and category coverage. Enterprise Data Feeds — Annual contracts for bulk data access, custom delivery, and dedicated support. Contact us for enterprise pricing or to discuss a custom package for your firm's needs.

Data is licensed for internal use — research, analytics, and decision support within your organization. Redistribution, resale, or public display of raw transaction data requires a separate redistribution license. Derived analytics, indices, and aggregated insights built from the data can typically be published under standard terms. Full details are in our Terms of Use.