A 50ml Springbank Scotch whisky has been sold for £6,440, making it the world’s most expensive whisky miniature ever sold at an auction.
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The bottle of whisky, distilled in 1919, was one of a collection of some 400 miniatures that sold for £56,732.95 after commission.
The collection has been put together since 1980 by whisky collector and co-founder of the online whisky retailer, The Whisky Exchange, Sukhinder Singh.
Until now, the record was held by a 50ml bottle of the Old Orkney Real Liqueur Whisky which sold for £4,000 in October 2019.
Happy collector
Mr. Singh who has been collecting whisky miniatures for over forty years says he is happy his collections will now be part of others across the world. He said:
Ten miniatures from my collection reached prices of £1,000 or more including the Springbank 1919 which achieved £6,440, breaking the record for the highest price ever paid for a miniature. I am thrilled to see that interest in miniature collecting is at an all-time high as it’s something I fell in love with four decades ago.
He decided to sell a good proportion of his collections in order to make space for new buys. He is however keeping just one bottle from each distillery to go on display.
Iconic sells
Other significant miniatures from the sale which was done via the online auction site, Whisky.Auction included a rare 50ml 1940s Glenfiddich Special with its box, selling for £2,530 – setting a new record for this particular whisky.
A 50ml Macallan Spiral Label from the 1970s was bought for £2,185, while a miniature bottle of The 1967 Glenlivet sold for £1,552.50.
Auction director at Whisky.Auction, Isabel Graham-Yooll observed that rare miniatures have become more accessible to consumers, with starting bids coming in at £2. She explained:
We have seen a wonderful renaissance in the appreciation of rare whisky miniatures. Bidders are willing to pay what seems like a lot of money for tiny bottles of whisky but it is the opportunity to taste a piece of history – particularly when standard 70cl or 75cl formats have become inaccessible for many enthusiasts to buy.
