Auction Update: The 20 Highest Single Bottle Hammer Prices of December

There was fierce competition for the top spots on the last monthly 20 highest hammer prices of 2025. The combined hammer prices for December were $931,990, up 8% against December 2024. The monthly 20-highest list closed the year on a high, having outperformed 2024’s figures for the last five months. Whisky.Auction topped the list for December, with a winning bid of $100,684 for a Macallan in Lalique 50 year old, bucking the trend of falling Macallan prices that began in 2024. This decanter achieved more than double the $40,000 hammer price of the bottle sold in New York four days earlier at Sotheby’s.

From New York to Hong Kong, ultra-premium Macallan was on sale in large amounts at both Sotheby’s and Bonhams in December. Lalique decanters from the Six Pillars collection and The Red Collection made the 20-highest list. Unusually, Whisky Auctioneer didn’t attract a high enough hammer price to make December’s list. Macallan took 18 out of 20 places in December, excluding nearly every other brand. Very Very Old Fitzgerald was the only brand to disrupt Macallan’s dominance, with two more Blackhawk bottles generating high winning bids.

Earlier this week, we published the results for the 20 highest hammer prices of 2025, whose results can be found here. And here are the details on December and our end of year table revealing the final rankings of the year and the changes compared to 2024:

20 Highest Single Bottle Hammer Prices of December 2025

Results converted to dollars using xe.com

20. Macallan 52 year old 2018 Release
Sold on: December 5^th at Bonhams, Hong Kong
Hammer price: $33,399

19. Macallan Fine & Rare 1952 50 year old
Sold on: December 9^th at Sotheby’s, Hong Kong
Hammer price: $33,410

18. Macallan Tales of the Macallan Volume II 73 year old
Sold on: December 11^th at Zachys, New York
Hammer price: $34,000

17. Macallan The Red Collection 50 year old
Sold on: December 9^th at Bonhams, Edinburgh
Hammer price: $34,625

16. Macallan Fine & Rare 1938 31 year old
Sold on: December 9^th at Sotheby’s, Hong Kong
Hammer price: $38,550

15. Macallan Tales of the Macallan 71 year old Volume I
Sold on: December 9^th at Bonhams, Edinburgh
Hammer price: $39,952

14. Macallan in Lalique 50 year old
Sold on: December 12^th at Sotheby’s, New York
Hammer price: $40,000

13. Macallan The Red Collection 78 year old
Sold on: December 12^th at Sotheby’s, New York
Hammer price: $42,000

12. Macallan in Lalique 65 year old
Sold on: December 12^th at Sotheby’s, New York
Hammer price: $45,000

11. Macallan The Red Collection 74 year old
Sold on: December 9^th at Bonhams, Edinburgh
Hammer price: $45,279

10. Macallan The Red Collection 77 year old
Sold on: December 9^th at Bonhams, Edinburgh
Hammer price: $45,279

9. Macallan The Red Collection 78 year old
Sold on: December 9^th at Bonhams, Edinburgh
Hammer price: $45,279

8. Macallan 52 year old 2018 Release
Sold on: December 7^th at Scotch Whisky Auctions
Hammer price: $47,998

7. Macallan The Red Collection 77 year old
Sold on: December 9^th at Sotheby’s, Hong Kong
Hammer price: $48,830

6. Very Very Old Fitzgerald 1950 15 year old Blackhawk
Sold on: December 12^th at Sotheby’s, New York
Hammer price: $50,000

5. Macallan in Lalique 57 year old
Sold on: December 12^th at Sotheby’s, New York
Hammer price: $50,000

4. Macallan in Lalique 62 year old
Sold on: December 12^th at Sotheby’s, New York
Hammer price: $50,000

3. Macallan The Red Collection 71 year old
Sold on: December 9^th at Bonhams, Edinburgh
Hammer price: $50,605

2. Very Very Old Fitzgerald 1950 18 year old Blackhawk
Sold on: December 14^th at Unicorn Auctions
Hammer price: $57,100

1. Macallan in Lalique 50 year old
Sold on: December 16^th at Whisky.Auction
Hammer price: $100,684

Each month, we publish the 20 highest hammer prices for single bottles of whisky. This table ranks the 20 brands by the sum of their 20 hammer price sales and shows the latest month’s results.