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Your morning briefing on the luxury and collectibles markets. Today: London's art market posts its biggest summer auction haul in a decade; Christie's sets a world record for an online handbag sale in Paris; luxury starts to turn a corner, led by the US and China, even as the everyday shopper tires of higher prices; plus a calmer open to the week after the US and Iran agreed to halt attacks.
Good morning. It's Monday, June 29. I'm Sharon, and this is Open Bid from ALT/FNDATA.
Today: London's best summer of art sales in a decade, a record-setting handbag sale in Paris, and the first real signs that luxury is turning a corner, even as the everyday shopper tires of higher prices. Plus a calmer market open to the week, after the US and Iran stepped back from confrontation over the weekend. And Closing Price wraps the day tonight.
This episode of Open Bid is brought to you by ALT/FNDATA, the market intelligence platform for insights on the luxury markets and related public equities. With a membership, you can unlock access to dashboards, reports and cutting-edge insights to keep your finger on the pulse of the market and drive your competitive advantage. Learn more at altfndata.com/membership.
We begin in London, where the art market has just had its best summer in a decade. After ten years of what the trade half-jokingly calls the Brexit blues, this week's sales across the big three auction houses brought in around 560 million dollars, up roughly 300 percent on a year ago. Confidence has returned to the top of the art market.
The crown belonged to Sotheby's and the collection of the late British billionaire Joe Lewis. Its Lewis Collection evening sale made 392.6 million dollars, comfortably ahead of its presale estimate, the most valuable single-owner collection ever sold in Europe. Leading it was Modigliani's 1917 seated nude, Nu assis au collier, which sold for around 63.9 million dollars, the top lot of the entire season. Lewis had bought it for 12.4 million dollars back in 1995. A René Magritte gouache, La Belle Promenade, brought 21.2 million dollars, more than seven times what it fetched just over a decade ago.
Christie's followed with the collection of Anita and Poju Zabludowicz, which sold for 15.4 million pounds, within estimate. It was led by Philip Guston's Mirror Head, a 1977 portrait of his wife, which sold for 3.9 million pounds, followed by a Richard Prince Cowboy at 1.5 million, and a new artist record for Rose Wylie, whose Sailing Boat made 292,000 pounds. Phillips rounded out the week with 11.9 million pounds across 90 lots.
With two major single-owner collections selling through London's rooms in a matter of weeks, a market written off for the better part of a decade looks open again. Though one strong season does not remake it. As The Art Newspaper notes, the trophies are soaring even as galleries contract, the same split we keep tracking across luxury, the top booming while the broad market strains beneath it. What this recovery really means is the question we take up tomorrow on Art Market.
In Paris, Christie's has just set a new world record for an online handbag sale. Its Handbags Online, the Paris Edit, totaled 5.8 million euros, with 98 percent of lots sold and 83 percent of them selling above their high estimates, drawing bidders from 47 countries. Near-total sell-through, with most lots beating their estimates, is not what a soft market looks like. It is what a fierce one looks like, and it tells you that demand at the very top of the handbag world is as robust as ever. The trophy Birkin and Kelly are doing in the saleroom exactly what the trophy painting is doing in London.
In a new study with McKinsey, the Business of Fashion reports that after a long slowdown, luxury is gradually returning to growth, led by the United States and China. That is the most constructive read on the broad market we have heard in some time. But the recovery is not even. On the very same morning, Lindt and Sprüngli, the Swiss chocolate maker listed near 9,500 francs a share, is heading for its worst quarter in 17 years, as ordinary consumers finally tire of paying ever-higher prices. Put those two together and you have the split we are monitoring in the markets. The top of the market is setting records while everyday shoppers are fatigued. Luxury appears to be recovering from the top down, not the bottom up.
A few more to note this morning.
Swatch Group, listed in Zurich around 203 Swiss francs, has filed a 170 million dollar lawsuit against Samsung, claiming the electronics giant allowed digital clones of its watch faces to appear on Samsung smartwatches.
Hermès, listed in Paris at 1,627 euros, has opened a new maison on London's Bond Street, doubling down on the city just as its art market reopens.
And LVMH, trading at 494 euros, has launched its first luxury yacht under its Orient Express brand, a joint venture with the Paris-listed hotel group Accor. It is built to court a new generation of tech billionaires, with the money at the very top still flowing, increasingly toward experiences as much as objects.
Finally, the markets, opening the week in a calmer mood. Over the weekend, the United States and Iran agreed to halt their attacks ahead of fresh talks, easing the tension that hung over the back half of last week. Oil settled back toward 72 dollars a barrel, gold eased, and the dollar firmed. Against that steadier backdrop, the European luxury names opened mostly higher. Burberry led the way, up about 2.5 percent, with Brunello Cucinelli up more than 1 percent, and Hermès and Richemont close to flat. LVMH and Kering each slipped a fraction. After a wild week, a quiet open. We will have the full read tonight on Closing Price.
That's it on Open Bid for today, Monday, June 29. Closing Price covers the day's signals this evening.
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I'm Sharon, from ALT/FNDATA. I'll talk with you in the next episode.
