China Guardian Hong Kong Autumn Auction: Vietnamese Ky Nam Agarwood Mountain Sells for HK$15.47 Million

Vietnamese Ky Nam Mountain Realizes ~HK$15.47 Million

At China Guardian Hong Kong's 2026 Autumn Auction in the "Guanhua — Antiquities and Classical Furniture" session, LOT 1622, a Vietnamese raw Ky Nam agarwood mountain carving, realized HK$15,477,000, approximately RMB 13.1 million. The result once again underscores the scarcity of top-grade Ky Nam, the most prized category of agarwood, which forms only under exceptionally rare conditions of environment and fungal interaction — as the traditional saying goes, "one inch of Ky Nam is worth ten inches of agarwood."

Notably, the structure of auction sessions is evolving: China Guardian's 2026 Spring Auction featured a dedicated agarwood session with 114 lots totaling about RMB 10 million, while by this October's Hong Kong autumn sale, agarwood was integrated into a broader antiquities and classical furniture session. Industry observers note that agarwood is being absorbed into a more standardized connoisseurship framework, with buyers increasingly attentive to the tiered pricing between wild-harvest and cultivated material, whose price gap can reach dozens to over a hundred times.

This article is an industry observation and science popularization compilation and does not constitute any transaction or investment advice. Please purchase agarwood through legal channels with verifiable, testable sources.