Autumn Auctions: China Guardian Hong Kong Puts Agarwood in Focus as Top Kynam Clears HK$10 Million

One group, many forms

China Guardian Hong Kong's 2026 autumn auction presents a group of incense-related lots running from raw material to contemporary incense making: old Hue sinking-grade agarwood (Lot 1623, about 76 g, estimated HK$320,000-520,000), a Vietnamese sinking-grade mountain-shaped agarwood (Lot 1624, about 129 g, estimated HK$380,000-580,000), two bottles of Vietnamese agarwood oil (Lot 1625, 3 ml each, estimated HK$4,000-6,000), and a group of three ambergris pieces (Lot 1626, about 186 g, estimated HK$1,000-2,000). The spread of price tiers serves both collectors and everyday incense enthusiasts.

Record prices are outliers, not the market

According to media reports, a Vietnamese green (sheng jie) kynam mountain form hammered at HK$15.477 million this season. What deserves emphasis is that top-grade green kynam sits at the apex only because resin content, aroma and physical condition all meet the highest bar, while wild supply keeps shrinking. Industry research indicates that between 2024 and mid-2026, top-tier wild sinking material and carving-grade pieces changed hands in private treaty sales across Vietnam, Singapore and Hong Kong at roughly US$18,000 to US$85,000 per kilogram. The vast majority of material circulating in the market sits far below that standard.

Three supports behind the rally, three lines of defence for buyers

Three forces carry the rally: shrinking supply of wild old material, steady long-term buying from Middle Eastern and East Asian collectors, and quality tiering enabled by verifiable laboratory testing. Buyers, meanwhile, should hold three lines of defence: insist on a certificate from a laboratory with CMA or equivalent accreditation and check tree-species identification, treatment screening and agarotetrol indicators, confirming the report number on the issuing lab's official platform; stay alert to pressure-oil injection, oil-soaking with dyeing, and glue-filled or pieced construction; and treat any verbal claim of old wild material with no certificate behind it as unenforceable.

This is industry observation and popular-science summary, not investment advice. Buy agarwood through legal channels with traceable, testable sources.