Sotheby’s will offer The Ultimate Whisky Collection Part II in London on Saturday, 31 October 2020, staged within a wider sale of spirits titled The Ultimate Whisky Collection Part II + More. The auction brings together whiskies from renowned distilleries in Scotland, Ireland and Japan, and marks the house’s first annual spirits sale to fall on the day Halloween is celebrated around the world.
The offering follows the record set almost a year earlier, when The Ultimate Whisky Collection achieved £7.6 million ($10 million), the highest total for any whisky collection ever offered at auction. That sale was headlined by a bottle of The Macallan Fine & Rare 60-Year-Old 1926, which set an auction record for any bottle of wine or spirit at £1.5 million ($1.9 million), and was 100 percent sold across all 391 lots.
This year’s sale will present 190 lots of Scotch, Japanese and Irish whiskies, estimated to bring in the region of £800,000. Assembled by a private American connoisseur over some 20 years, the original collection was the most comprehensive catalogue of whisky ever offered by a single owner in a single auction. All 37 distilleries represented in the sale include Ardbeg, The Balvenie, Bowmore, Brora, The Dalmore, Glenfiddich, The Glenlivet, Highland Park, Laphroaig, The Macallan and Springbank.
The Macallan again takes the dominant position, with 63 lots carrying a low estimate of £501,000. Highlights include four bottles from The Macallan in Lalique 6 Pillars Collection, The Macallan 50 Year Old 1928 (estimate £30,000 to 45,000), the Red Ribbon 1938 (estimate £10,000 to 13,000) and the Millennium Decanter 50 Year Old 1949 (estimate £15,000 to 20,000). Bowmore accounts for 21 lots with a combined low estimate of £124,000, among them the Bowmore 50 Year Old Last Cask 1964 (estimate £32,000 to 38,000).
The ‘+ More’ portion adds whiskies from an Important Italian Collector, 43 bottles with a combined low estimate of £210,000, alongside 16 bottles of Samaroli whisky and 66 bottles from the collection of a European gentleman. Further highlights include a Port Ellen 40 Year Old Cask #1885, one of only 78 bottles produced (estimate £20,000 to 26,000), and the Springbank Limited Edition Millennium Collection (estimate £18,000 to 26,000).
The sale will open with a complete set of six classic aged single malts from The Macallan Distillery, ranging from 40 Years Old to the oldest whisky ever released by the brand, launching on 15 October in a collaboration with The Macallan. Proceeds from this one-off offering will be donated to the global food charity City Harvest, which redistributes surplus from the food industry to vulnerable people internationally.
(Press Release)
