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Your morning briefing on the luxury and collectibles markets. Today: safe havens sell off as US and Iran peace talks progress, with gold and oil falling and the dollar near a one-year high. A single coloured diamond tops our entire auction database at 17.4 million dollars. A museum-grade Triceratops skull and a rare ancient bronze head to auction. And there's a changing of the guard at Moschino.
Good morning. It's Monday, June 22. I'm Sharon, and this is Open Bid from ALT/FNDATA.
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Today: gold and oil fall as US and Iran peace talks show progress, a single coloured diamond tops our entire auction database at 17.4 million dollars, a museum-grade dinosaur skull and a rare ancient bronze head to auction, and there's a shake-up at the top of the Italian house Moschino. Plus a look ahead to tomorrow's Art Market.
We begin with the markets, where the big story over the weekend was diplomacy. Talks between the United States and Iran showed real signs of progress, and the first thing that moved was the price of safety. When the risk of a wider conflict eases, investors sell the assets they buy for protection. So this morning gold is trading around 4,228 dollars an ounce, down about 2 percent, and silver is off close to 5 percent. Oil fell too, with US crude back near 75 dollars a barrel, as Iran resumed shipping more of its oil through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that carries a large share of the world's crude. The dollar, meanwhile, is firm and trading near a one-year high. US markets reopen this morning after Friday's Juneteenth holiday, and Asian shares rose overnight on the same peace-deal optimism. Here in Europe, the luxury names opened mixed. LVMH opened at 500.40 euros, up about 0.2 percent from Friday's close of 499.25. Hermès was essentially flat at 1,722.50 euros. Richemont opened a touch lower at 183.10 Swiss francs, down about 0.3 percent, and Kering eased to 271.70 euros. The softest of the group was Brunello Cucinelli, the Italian cashmere maker, which opened at 84.46 euros, down nearly 4 percent, while in London, Burberry opened at 1,131 pence, off about 1.4 percent. The watch names were the bright spot. Watches of Switzerland, the big London-listed retailer, opened at 731.5 pence, up about 1.1 percent, and Swatch Group was little changed in Zurich at 210 Swiss francs.
Now to a number from our own database, and it is a big one. Across every category we track, watches, art, cars, handbags, and jewelry, the single highest auction result of the past 90 days is a jewel. A coloured diamond and diamond ring known as the Ocean Dream sold for 17.4 million dollars at Christie's last month. To put that in perspective, that one ring sold for more than most entire collector-car auctions bring in a single sale. It is a useful reminder that even while the broad luxury market is soft and the brands are shipping fewer goods, the very top of the jewelry market is still finding deep-pocketed buyers. That sale, and every other result we are talking about, is captured in the ALT/FNDATA database.
Two unusual lots are heading to auction. First, a museum-grade Triceratops skull will lead a sale of natural history treasures at the auction house Joopiter. Fossils of this quality rarely come to market, and dinosaur material has become one of the hottest corners of the collecting world, with complete skeletons selling for tens of millions of dollars in recent years. And in London, Sotheby's will offer a rare bronze of Laocoön and his Sons, the famous ancient sculpture of a Trojan priest and his two boys being attacked by sea serpents. This is one of only four life-sized bronze casts in existence, and it is expected to sell for around 4 million dollars when it goes under the hammer in July.
To the business of fashion, where there is a changing of the guard at Moschino. The brand's creative director, Adrian Appiolaza, stepped down on Friday after two years, a mutual decision that comes amid mounting financial troubles at the label's owner, the Italian group Aeffe. In his place, Moschino has hired the two founders of the cult Milan label Sunnei, Simone Rizzo and Loris Messina, who say they want to turn the house into, in their words, a cultural loudspeaker. That's according to Business of Fashion and Reuters. There is movement elsewhere in the executive ranks too. Loewe has named a new global communications director, Eloise Hautcoeur, who joins from Versace in Milan. And the luxury houses are leaning hard into summer. Business of Fashion reports that as the industry's beach-club era stretches into a ninth season, brands are taking over the coastline, with Mytheresa, Gucci, and Jacquemus all descending on Monaco, and Burberry setting up shop in Athens. One more from the runway: Alexander McQueen, which normally shows in Paris, will return to the official London Fashion Week calendar with a show in September, its first London slot in years.
A few notes from the art world before we close. In France, a converted winery has just been recognized as a national museum. The Coopérative-Musée Cérès Franco, which holds an eclectic private collection, is reopening to the public after a major renovation. And there is a restitution result worth flagging. A US court has ordered the veteran dealer David Nahmad to return a Modigliani painting that was found to have been looted, a notable development in the long-running fight over Nazi-era art claims. These are exactly the kinds of stories we dig into on our weekly art show, and Art Market is out tomorrow with a full slate. We will look at the lasting impact of Brexit on the British art trade, a decade on from the vote to leave the European Union. We will visit the collector David Walsh as he expands his Museum of Old and New Art in Tasmania. And we will dig into a remarkable find, a previously unknown archive that belonged to Van Gogh's doctor, Paul Gachet, including a sketch of the artist on his deathbed.
Looking ahead, the Laocoön bronze goes on view in London ahead of its July sale, and Closing Price follows this evening with the day's closes.
That's it on Open Bid for today, Monday, June 22. Closing Price follows this evening at 5 PM Eastern.
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I'm Sharon, from ALT/FNDATA. I'll talk with you in the next episode.
