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Sotheby’s Wine chairman Jamie Ritchie believes the auction house is on track for a ‘historic moment in the spirits market’ later this month when a collection of rare and incredibly valuable whiskey hits the auction block. The collection includes 467 whiskey bottles + 9 casks and it’s currently valued at $4.9 million but when the pieces are sold off individually the total value could skyrocket.
According to Forbes the current owner of the collection is a ‘mysterious U.S.-based owner’ which I find pretty interesting. It certainly narrows down the list of people it could potentially be. This auction will take place at Sotheby’s Auction House in London and the 9 casks + 465 whiskey bottles are broken out into 394 separate lots.
Another reason I find it interesting the owner of the collection is America is because over half of the bottles are expensive and rare expressions of Macallan Scotch Whiskey. It’s not like this collection is loaded up with all rare Kentucky Bourbons.
The rarest and most expensive bottle in this collection is a 60-year-old Macallan 1926 that came from the same cask as a bottle that sold for a record $1.2 million last year. This bottle is only valued at $550,000. There are also not one but TWO ‘Macallan Lalique Six Pillars Collections’. These are comprised of six bottles. Those two collections are valued at $550,000 as well. There are also ’46 Macallan Fine and Rare miniatures’ dating from 1937 to 1991 and that collection totals $107,000.
These are all estimated values. So those prices could SKYROCKET at auction later this month. And I suspect they will as this is expected to be the most valuable whiskey auction in history.
Other bottles in the collection that will be up for auction include Macallan Port Ellen releases, 70-year-old bottles from Gordon and Macphail, a $25K Mortlach and a $23K Glenlivet, a 1937 Balvenie, 1937 Glenfiddich, 50-year-old Highland Park, and a 50+ year old Dalmore.
I feel like I should consider taking out a second mortgage for that 50-year-old Highland Park. The Highland Park ‘Dark’ is one of my favorite bottles from the past few years and I can’t even begin to imagine how good their 50-year-old would be.
As for how this collector came to acquire all of these rare bottles worth a total of nearly five million dollars?
The Ultimate Whisky Collector himself had this to say about his selection: “I started this collection and realized that if I really spent time on it and was selective in my choices, I might be able to put together something significant and unique. Two decades on, I think the collection is at that point where it is indeed unique. Having cherished these bottles, I am now ready to share them with collectors around the world.” (via)
According to Forbes, this sale will begin on September 27th online and will culminate with a live auction at London’s Olympia Event Space in West Kensington on October 24th.