Auction Update: The Mystery of Glen Cawdor and a Heart-Stealing Hammer Price for Hanyu

This month is on track to outperform April 2025, with a series of good results for Macallan Fine & Rare bottlings, and a rare appearance of the 2005 edition of Ichiro’s Malt Card Series Hanyu 1990 Queen of Hearts selling for $56,904.

Whisky Auctioneer failed to reach the reserve prices for bottles of Gordon & MacPhail 85 year old from Glenlivet Distillery, Macallan The Red Collection 60 year old, Balvenie Cask 191, and the first 15 releases in the Yoshitoshi Ghost Series, which have gone unsold for several auctions. Elsewhere, a complete first edition set of Diageo’s Prima and Ultima released in 2020 sold for $29,775, White Bowmore 1964 43 year old took $17,865, and a Brora Triptych, released to mark the reopening of the distillery, garnered $21,835. The Macallan x Bentley Horizon hit just $30,000, 60% of its original retail value; prices for the Bentley appear to be decelerating with every auction appearance. Elsewhere, McTear’s, Glasgow sold a bottle of Glenfiddich 1952 for $8,736, distilled on Valentine’s Day and bottled for the opening of the distillery’s reception area in 1969. Unusually, this expression comes in a round bottle, despite William Grant & Sons introducing its classic triangular bottle shape earlier in the 1960s.

Whisky Auctioneer – March 2026 Auction

Auction ended April 6^th

• Japan: Ichiro’s Malt Card Series Hanyu 1990 Queen of Hearts Cask No. 9102, $56,904. There were two Hanyu bottlings of the Queen of Hearts; this was the first, more valuable release.
• Islay: Samaroli Laphroaig 1967 15 year old Matured in Sherry Wood, $39,701. These bottles always sell for impressive sums but rarely appear at any auction house other than Whisky Auctioneer.
• Speyside: Macallan Fine & Rare 1937 37 year old, $29,114. This achieved the highest hammer price for a bottle of Macallan Fine & Rare in April to date.

Scotch Whisky Auctions – The 178^th Auction

Auction ended April 12^th

• Speyside: Macallan Fine & Rare 1952 49 year old, $24,219. This was from a first-fill sherry cask filled on September 19^th 1952.
• Irish: Midleton Very Rare 30^th Anniversary Pearl Edition, $14,128. This hammer price was a new house record for a bottle of Midleton at Scotch Whisky Auctions.
• Islay: Black Bowmore 1964 2^nd Edition, $12,109. This 1994 release had a fill level at the high shoulder, but was otherwise in very good condition.

Unicorn Auctions – April 2026 Spirits

Auction ended April 12^th

• Speyside: Macallan x Bentley Horizon, $30,000. This has struggle to reach it's original retail price of $50,000 at auction, and prices for this expression continue to slow down.
• Bourbon: Eagle Rare 25 year old, $11,900. This result is unlikely to make the top 20 hammer price list for April, but the brand could appear more regularly following the release of Eagle Rare 30 year old.
• Islay: Bowmore 1964 38 year old Oloroso Cask, $8,000. Aside from the original Black Bowmore trio, Bowmore released an oloroso cask, fino cask, and bourbon cask as part of a separate trilogy of 1964 releases.

Lot of the Week

Glen Cawdor is not a distillery. The name was used by Samaroli for a series of scotch releases from the 1980s onward from both named and unnamed distilleries. The list of Glen Cawdor bottlings reportedly includes examples from Springbank, Glen Grant, Glen Ord, Jura, Glenlossie, Clynelish, and Glenburgie. Collectors are hoping that any Glen Cawdor from an unnamed source will be a 1960s Springbank. Whisky Auctioneer sold this bottle of Samaroli Glen Cawdor 1965, at the second time of asking, after the reserve price was lowered. A Glen Cawdor 1964 in sherrywood, sold earlier this year, has tasting notes on the label describing a full-bodied, rich, and smoky dram that sounds persuasively like Campbeltown whisky. The Glen Cawdor 1965 is more enigmatic as it was bottled for Restaurant Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, Italy and the label carries few details. A rear label has brief tasting notes that hint at its marvelous roundness, aromatic bouquet, and pleasant flavor, but these words don’t strongly suggest the contents chime with Springbank’s 1960s signature style. Whisky Auctioneer suggests Glen Ord or Glen Garioch are other possible distillates that Samaroli could have bottled for this release, and as the words pure malt appear on the label, technically, this could include single malts from more than one distillery, though it is probably single malt. The illustration of a woman on this Samaroli label from the 1980s is noteworthy, however, as it clearly predates the Compass Box claim that they were the first company to put a woman on a whisky label in 2000.

Lot: Samaroli Glen Cawdor 1965 Pure Malt
Sold at: Whisky Auctioneer, April 6^th 2026
Hammer Price: $30,437

Upcoming Auctions:

Whisky.Auction, April 21^st: The sale includes a bottle of Karuizawa 50 year old produced from a marriage of stocks from 1965 and 1972.

April 30^th, Bonhams Skinner: Bidding opens for this online sale of Rarest Spirits on April 19^th.

May 8th, Bonhams, Edinburgh: The Eagle Rare 30 year old Bourbon Takes Flight auction opens for online bids on April 24th.

May 8^th, Sotheby’s, London: Sotheby’s next Finest & Rarest Whisky sale opens on April 23^rd.