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Your morning briefing on the luxury and collectibles markets. Today: the art collection of British billionaire Joe Lewis smashes records at Sotheby's, led by a 63.9 million dollar Modigliani he bought for 12.4 million in 1995; the CEO of Versace resigns; the rug from The Big Lebowski heads to auction; and the luxury market steadies after a wild week.
Good morning. It's Thursday, June 25. I'm Sharon, and this is Open Bid from ALT/FNDATA.
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Today: a British billionaire's art collection smashes records at Sotheby's, led by a 63.9 million dollar Modigliani that he bought for a fraction of that price more than 30 years ago. The chief executive of Versace steps down, the rug from The Big Lebowski heads to auction, and the luxury market finally steadies after a wild week. Plus our weekly Auto Market is out today.
We begin with a blockbuster night in the saleroom. In London, the art collection of the British billionaire Joe Lewis sold at Sotheby's for 392.6 million dollars. That is a record for a single-owner sale anywhere in Europe, and it came in at nearly double the pre-sale estimate. The star of the night was a 1917 nude by Amedeo Modigliani, titled "Seated Nude Wearing a Necklace," which fetched 63.9 million dollars, the most ever paid for a Modigliani at auction in Europe.
And here is the number that should catch every collector's eye. Lewis bought that very painting at Christie's back in 1995, for 12.4 million dollars. So across 31 years, it appreciated more than five-fold. Just one of the 25 lots failed to find a buyer, and, crucially, Sotheby's put none of its own money on the line to guarantee the results. For an auction house to take that risk, and win, is a serious vote of confidence in the very top of the art market. It also caps a London June that, after a famously slow start, has roared back to life.
And our data shows just how thin the air gets at that altitude. In a full year of results, only a small club of names reaches the top tier of fine art at all, the Picassos, the Basquiats, a Canaletto at the very top near 44 million dollars. Last night, Modigliani did not just join that club, it set a new high mark above every one of them. The pattern never changes: a few trophy names with spotless provenance keep climbing, while the market beneath them turns more and more selective.
To the business of fashion, where there is a change at the top of Versace. The house's chief executive, Emmanuel Gintzburger, has resigned. The timing is not a surprise. Versace was bought by the Prada Group last year, and a leadership reshuffle was widely expected as Prada folds the brand into its stable and sets about a turnaround. It is one more sign of the consolidation reshaping the upper end of Italian luxury.
A couple of lighter notes to round things out. First, for fans of a certain cult film: the actual rug from The Big Lebowski, the one that, in the movie's words, really tied the room together, is heading to auction. And in the property market, Reuters reports that wealthy buyers are flocking to Spain, treating prime real estate there as a haven from war and global turmoil. It is a reminder that in uncertain times, hard assets of every kind catch a bid.
Finally, a quick word on the markets, which mercifully calmed down. After a brutal, whipsawing week of a deepening tech selloff and then a sharp luxury rebound, the European luxury names opened quietly mixed this morning. Hermès and Kering edged higher, by about 0.25 and 0.9 percent, while LVMH and Richemont slipped about 0.4 and 1 percent. After the drama of the past few days, a quiet open is its own kind of good news.
That's it on Open Bid for today, Thursday, June 25. Our weekly Auto Market is also out today, with the Ferrari that rules our collector-car database, and Closing Price follows this evening at 5 PM Eastern.
For insights on the data behind today's stories, the ALT/FNDATA membership gives you access to a rich library of market data dashboards, reports and insights. Get started at altfndata.com/membership or reach us anytime at info@altfndata.com.
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I'm Sharon, from ALT/FNDATA. I'll talk with you in the next episode.
