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‘Bumper year’ for Bonhams wine and whisky sales
Auction house Bonhams has reported sales of more than £15 million (US$19m) in its wine and whisky department this year, boosted by several record-breaking Macallan lots.
This bottle of The Macallan Valerio Adami 1926 sold for £848,750 at a Bonhams auction in Edinburgh.
In May this year, the Hong Kong branch of Bonhams sold two 60-year-old Macallans with designs by artists Peter Blake and Valerio Adami for £751,703 (US$1,014,422) and £814,081 (US$1,100,197) respectively, setting a new world record price for a single bottle of Scotch sold at auction.
This record was broken during a Bonhams Edinburgh sale in October, when another bottle of The Macallan Valerio Adami 1926 fetched £848,750.
In November, the only bottle of 1926 Macallan featuring a hand-painted design by Irish artist Michael Dillon became the first bottle of Scotch to exceed £1m when it when under the hammer at Christie’s.
As interest in Japanese whisky continued to grow, a bottle of Karuizawa from 1960 set a new world record for its category and a hogshead cask of 22-year-old Macallan fetched £342,271.
“The world records were, of course, the highlights of the year but all our sales – both in Hong Kong and Edinburgh – performed consistently well,” said Martin Green, Bonhams head of whisky in Edinburgh.
“International demand for Bowmore, Glenfiddich and other expressions of the Macallan remained buoyant and whiskies from closed Japanese distilleries again proved particularly attractive to buyers in Asia.”