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June 24:Luxury Steadies as China Pulls Back; $25.6M Jadeite Necklace; Remembering Yaacov Agam; Netherlands and Germany Return 2,000 Artefacts to Ghana
Markets steady after a brutal two days, but China's big mid-year shopping festival flashes a warning for luxury; a 25.6 million dollar jade necklace tops our jewelry database; the Netherlands and Germany agree to return 2,000 looted treasures to Ghana; and the art world remembers a pioneer of kinetic art.
ALT/FNDATA
- Membership: (Use PODCAST15 for 15% off) https://altfndata.com/go/ob-260624
- Market reports: https://altfndata.com/go/ob-260624-r
- Podcast episodes: https://altfndata.com/go/ob-260624-p
Markets: Steadying, and a Warning from China
- After Tuesday's selloff (Nasdaq down about 4 percent on Fed-hike fears), European luxury steadied at the open: LVMH and Hermès each up about 0.5 percent, Brunello Cucinelli higher. The laggards were the same all week: Burberry down 2.5 percent, Watches of Switzerland down a third straight day (about 2.9 percent).
- The bigger signal came from China. Its 618 mid-year shopping festival grew online sales just 4 percent year on year, down sharply from more than 15 percent last year (Syntun). For a luxury industry reliant on Chinese demand, that is a caution sign. Notably, secondhand and pre-owned sales jumped nearly 80 percent as shoppers traded down: the resale economy grows as the new-goods market cools.
A $25.6 Million Jade Necklace (ALT/FNDATA data)
- One of the highest jewelry results over the past year is a magnificent jadeite bead and coloured diamond necklace, sold for 25.6 million dollars at Christie's last month. Jadeite is the most prized gemstone in Chinese culture, and top imperial-green strands are rarer than fine diamonds.
- The split, again: a cautious mass-market Chinese consumer, and a firm and dazzling top. At the very top, demand is undimmed.
A Homecoming: 2,000 Treasures Return to Ghana
- The Netherlands and Germany agreed to return more than 2,000 cultural artefacts to Ghana, most taken during the colonial era. The Dutch return some 2,000 objects, including a gold ceremonial pipe the Asante king gave the Dutch monarch in 1837; Germany returns a smaller Kpando-linked group. Announced at a heritage conference in Accra, it follows the return of Asante royal regalia to Kumasi two years ago.
In Memoriam: Yaacov Agam
- Yaacov Agam, the Israeli artist and a founding figure of kinetic art, has died at 98. His works shift and change as the viewer moves, and they hang in major museums worldwide.
Also from ALT/FNDATA:
- Luxury Spending — out today (Wednesday)
- Closing Price — this evening at 5 PM ET
- Open Bid returns tomorrow at 6 AM ET
Markets steady after a brutal two days, but China's big mid-year shopping festival flashes a warning for luxury; a 25.6 million dollar jade necklace tops our jewelry database; the Netherlands and Germany agree to return 2,000 looted treasures to Ghana; and the art world remembers a pioneer of kinetic art.
ALT/FNDATA
- Membership: (Use PODCAST15 for 15% off) https://altfndata.com/go/ob-260624
- Market reports: https://altfndata.com/go/ob-260624-r
- Podcast episodes: https://altfndata.com/go/ob-260624-p
Markets: Steadying, and a Warning from China
- After Tuesday's selloff (Nasdaq down about 4 percent on Fed-hike fears), European luxury steadied at the open: LVMH and Hermès each up about 0.5 percent, Brunello Cucinelli higher. The laggards were the same all week: Burberry down 2.5 percent, Watches of Switzerland down a third straight day (about 2.9 percent).
- The bigger signal came from China. Its 618 mid-year shopping festival grew online sales just 4 percent year on year, down sharply from more than 15 percent last year (Syntun). For a luxury industry reliant on Chinese demand, that is a caution sign. Notably, secondhand and pre-owned sales jumped nearly 80 percent as shoppers traded down: the resale economy grows as the new-goods market cools.
A $25.6 Million Jade Necklace (ALT/FNDATA data)
- One of the highest jewelry results over the past year is a magnificent jadeite bead and coloured diamond necklace, sold for 25.6 million dollars at Christie's last month. Jadeite is the most prized gemstone in Chinese culture, and top imperial-green strands are rarer than fine diamonds.
- The split, again: a cautious mass-market Chinese consumer, and a firm and dazzling top. At the very top, demand is undimmed.
A Homecoming: 2,000 Treasures Return to Ghana
- The Netherlands and Germany agreed to return more than 2,000 cultural artefacts to Ghana, most taken during the colonial era. The Dutch return some 2,000 objects, including a gold ceremonial pipe the Asante king gave the Dutch monarch in 1837; Germany returns a smaller Kpando-linked group. Announced at a heritage conference in Accra, it follows the return of Asante royal regalia to Kumasi two years ago.
In Memoriam: Yaacov Agam
- Yaacov Agam, the Israeli artist and a founding figure of kinetic art, has died at 98. His works shift and change as the viewer moves, and they hang in major museums worldwide.
Also from ALT/FNDATA:
- Luxury Spending — out today (Wednesday)
- Closing Price — this evening at 5 PM ET
- Open Bid returns tomorrow at 6 AM ET
Creators and Guests
What is Open Bid — Daily Morning Briefing on Auctions, Luxury & Markets?
Open Bid is your weekday-morning briefing on the world of luxury and collectibles. In under five minutes, host Sharon Obuobi covers the biggest stories across fine art, jewelry, watches, handbags, and collector cars — the record auction results, the moves inside the luxury houses, and what the markets are doing that morning — all backed by proprietary data from ALT/FNDATA. Whether you collect, invest, or just love this world, it's the fastest way to start the day informed.
Learn more at www.altfndata.com.
OPEN BID — Wednesday, June 24, 2026
[INTRO]
Good morning. It's Wednesday, June 24. I'm Sharon, and this is Open Bid from ALT/FNDATA.
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.
Today, the markets are trying to steady after a brutal two days, but China's big mid-year shopping festival flashes a warning for luxury, a 25.6 million dollar jade necklace tops our jewelry database. In addition, the Netherlands and Germany have agreed to return 2,000 looted treasures to Ghana, and the art world says goodbye to a pioneer of kinetic art. Plus Luxury Spending is out today.
[THE MARKETS, STEADYING, AND A WARNING FROM CHINA]
We begin with the markets, which tried to find their footing this morning after two punishing sessions.
Yesterday's selloff was severe, with the Nasdaq down about 4 percent on fresh fears of a Federal Reserve rate hike. But in Europe today, the big luxury names steadied. LVMH and Hermès each opened up about half a percent, and Brunello Cucinelli edged higher as well. The exceptions were the same names that have led the way down all week. Burberry fell another 2.5 percent, and the watch retailer Watches of Switzerland slipped for a third straight day, off about 2.9 percent.
The more important signal, though, came from China. The country's 618 festival, its huge mid-year online shopping event, has just wrapped, and the numbers were soft. Total online sales grew just 4 percent from a year ago, a sharp slowdown from more than 15 percent the year before. For a luxury industry that leans heavily on the Chinese shopper, that is a warning sign. And one detail from the same data is squarely in our world. Sales of secondhand and pre-owned goods jumped nearly 80 percent, as Chinese consumers traded down. The resale economy keeps growing even as the market for new goods cools, a dynamic we track every day.
[A 25.6 MILLION DOLLAR JADE NECKLACE]
And yet at the very top, the Chinese taste for the finest things is undimmed.
The top jewelry result in our database so far this year is a magnificent jadeite bead and coloured diamond necklace, which sold for 25.6 million dollars at Christie's last month. Jadeite is the rarest and most valuable form of jade, and jade has been the most treasured gem in Chinese culture for centuries, once reserved for the emperors of the Qing court. The finest jadeite still draws the deepest-pocketed collectors in Asia, which is what puts a bead necklace in the same league as a major diamond.
So in the very same season that the mass-market Chinese consumer is pulling back, a single collector at the top of the market paid 25.6 million dollars for one necklace. It is the same split we see right across luxury: a cautious middle, and a firm and dazzling top.
[A HOMECOMING, 2,000 TREASURES RETURN TO GHANA]
The Netherlands and Germany have agreed to return more than 2,000 cultural artefacts to Ghana, most of them taken during the colonial period. The Dutch will hand back some 2,000 objects from their national collections, among them a gold ceremonial pipe that the Asante king gave to the Dutch monarch back in 1837. Germany is returning a smaller group of items tied to the Kpando area. The agreement was announced at a heritage conference in Accra last week, and it follows the return of Asante royal regalia to the city of Kumasi two years ago. For Ghana, it is the homecoming of treasures that have been abroad for as long as a century and a half.
[IN MEMORIAM, YAACOV AGAM]
The art world is mourning a giant. Yaacov Agam, the Israeli artist who was one of the founding figures of kinetic art, the art of movement, has died at the age of 98. Agam built his career on works that shift and change as the viewer walks past them, turning the act of looking into something active rather than still. His pieces hang in major museums around the world, and he is widely regarded as one of the most important artists his country ever produced.
[OUTRO]
That's it on Open Bid for today, Wednesday, June 24. Luxury Spending is also out today, with the trophy ceiling in handbags, watches, and jewelry, a boom in colored gemstones, and the return of a famous fair to Basel. 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.
Subscribe to get notified of new episodes, and if you love the show, please leave us a five-star rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
I'm Sharon, from ALT/FNDATA. I'll talk with you in the next episode.