Easter Elchies House, the "spiritual home" of Macallan was built in 1700. In 1824 the Elchies Estate also became home to Macallan Distillery, the source of high-priced whiskies at auction last month.
Whisky Auction Update April 5th:March's 20 Highest Hammer Prices-2024 Shows 22% Decline
April 5, 2024 –––––– Jonny McCormick
March’s 20 highest-priced bottles were valued at $750,900, with plenty of close competition as the top hammer prices were tightly packed between $24,000–$75,000. Three months into 2024, and our year-to-date figure is 22% down on this time last year, a deficit of $625,245.
With a quarter of the year gone, our table below shows that three brands— a scotch, a Japanese, and an American whiskey—account for more than half of monthly top 20 sales so far this year. Leading the pack is Macallan, which secured the top three highest hammer prices for the third month in a row, and nine of March’s 20 slots overall.
While we list whiskies in our table by distillery, independent bottlings regularly take top prices at auction. Entries by Gordon & MacPhail, which announced that it would halt new make fillings for independent bottlings starting this year, have appeared on every monthly list in 2024 so far, with their entries fetching a combined total of more than $90,000.
In auction house news, Whisky Hammer celebrated its 100th auction in March with its largest auction to date, managing to land a bottle of Brora and Macallan in this month’s list. Whisky Hammer’s highest-ever bid was placed in April 2022, with the successful bidder buying a refill butt of Macallan 1988 for $1,175,807.
March 2024 – Top 20 Highest Single Bottle Hammer Prices
Results converted to dollars using xe.com
20. Macallan Select Reserve 1946 52 year old
Sold on: March 15th at Sotheby’s
Hammer price: $24,000
19. Old Rip Van Winkle Family Reserve 23 year old
Sold on: March 17th at Unicorn Auctions
Hammer price: $24,100
18. Gordon & MacPhail Generations Mortlach 1939 75 year old
Sold on: March 10th at Scotch Whisky Auctions
Hammer price: $25,702
17. Macallan Fine & Rare 1952 49 year old
Sold on: March 24th At Whisky Hammer
Hammer price: $26,605
16. Macallan Fine & Rare 1952 50 year old
Sold on: March 12th at Whisky.Auction
Hammer price: $27,487
15. Lotta’s Home Papa’s Private Family Reserve 13 year old
Sold on: March 15th at Sotheby’s
Hammer price: $28,000
14. Karuizawa 1965 50 year old Cask No. 8636
Sold on: March 1st at Sotheby’s
Hammer price: $28,101
13. Gordon & MacPhail Glen Grant 1948 72 year old
Sold on: March 1st at Sotheby’s
Hammer price: $28,101
12. Karuizawa 1965 50 year old Cask No. 2372
Sold on: March 1st at Sotheby’s
Hammer price: $30,655
11. Samaroli Bowmore Bouquet 1966
Sold on: March 4th at Whisky Auctioneer
Hammer price: $31,748
10. Macallan Lalique 1937 The Golden Age of Travel – The Aeroplane
Sold on: March 1st at Sotheby’s
Hammer price: $35,764
9. Macallan Lalique 1937 The Golden Age of Travel – The Motor Car
Sold on: March 1st at Sotheby’s
Hammer price: $35,764
8. Karuizawa 1968 50 year old Cask No. 6223
Sold on: March 4th at Whisky Auctioneer
Hammer price: $37,463
7. Glenfiddich Rare Collection 1937 64 year old
Sold on: March 15th at Sotheby’s
Hammer price: $40,000
6. Macallan 1928 50 year old Anniversary Malt
Sold on: March 15th at Sotheby’s
Hammer price: $40,000
5. Brora 1972 40 year old
Sold on: March 24th at Whisky Hammer
Hammer price: $41,294
4. LeNell’s Red Hook Rye 23 year old Barrel No. 3
Sold on: March 15th at Sotheby’s
Hammer price: $48,000
3. Macallan 1950 Tales of the Macallan Volume 1
Sold on: March 12th at Whisky.Auction
Hammer price: $48,582
2. Macallan in Lalique 72 year old
Sold on: March 10th at Scotch Whisky Auctions
Hammer price: $74,534
1. Macallan in Lalique 50 year old
Sold on: March 15th at Sotheby’s
Hammer price: $75,000
Each month, we publish the 20 highest hammer prices for a single bottle of whisky. This table ranks the 20 brands by the sum of their 20 highest hammer price sales and shows the latest month’s results.
|
Brand |
# of bottles in March |
$ in March |
# of bottles YTD |
$ YTD |
|
Macallan |
9 |
$387,736 |
20 |
$1,054,253 |
|
Karuizawa |
3 |
$96,219 |
6 |
$193,635 |
|
Van Winkle |
2 |
$52,100 |
6 |
$130,500 |
|
Hanyu |
0 |
0 |
4 |
$107,517 |
|
Glen Grant |
1 |
$28,101 |
3 |
$93,112 |
|
LeNell’s |
1 |
$48,000 |
2 |
$80,000 |
|
Glenfarclas |
0 |
0 |
2 |
$68,288 |
|
Glenfiddich |
1 |
$40,000 |
2 |
$66,313 |
|
Laphroaig |
0 |
0 |
1 |
$50,746 |
|
Bowmore |
1 |
$31,748 |
1 |
$50,050 |
|
Highland Park |
0 |
0 |
2 |
$49,137 |
|
Willett |
0 |
0 |
1 |
$41,300 |
|
Brora |
1 |
$41,294 |
1 |
$41,294 |
|
Balvenie |
0 |
0 |
1 |
$31,907 |
|
Charles Bellows |
0 |
0 |
1 |
$30,000 |
|
Baker’s |
0 |
0 |
1 |
$28,000 |
|
Mortlach |
1 |
$25,702 |
1 |
$25,702 |
|
Springbank |
0 |
0 |
1 |
$23,321 |
|
Glendronach |
0 |
0 |
1 |
$22,973 |
|
Midleton |
0 |
0 |
1 |
$21,914 |
|
Michter’s |
0 |
0 |
1 |
$20,000 |
|
D.H. Cromwell |
0 |
0 |
1 |
$18,100 |
