Tennants Auctioneers - Whisky Sale Review

[marklittler]

Hi all. Following Saturday's first auction of rare and collectable whisky I thought I would give you all a quick round up of the sale ( all prices listed below exclude the buyers premium of 15%+vat ).

Before the sale had even begun every lot was well covered with commission bids, and a packed room coupled with very active phone bidders mean that the sale was a success, totalling almost £20,000. There was a phenomenal amount of interest pre sale, the majority from North of the border, although there was a large number of trade buyers, including several notable whisky bars!

[b]Recent Bottles[/b]
The sale included several good recent bottlings. Amongst the top sellers included a 1976 Laphroaig, £380, a 1975 Ardbeg, £250, and a 1957 Glen Grant, £150. There was lots of private interest in these bottles, and needless to say many will now have been opened and sampled! Other good performers included a litre of Loch Dhu, £120, and the four Flora and Forna series bottles also achieved a bullish £300, the latter being bid strongly by two parties in the room.

[b]Vintage Bottles[/b]

Undoubtedly the main attraction at the sale was the vintage bottles. The majority came from two collectors; one started buying when his grandchild was born as a 21st present (the grandchild did not end up liking whisky so after several years of debate, the decision was made to sell), and a retired off-liscence owner who retired in the early 1980's.

Two of the best sellers of the sale fall into the vintage category, a ships label bottle of Bowmore, £660, and a 1970's 22 year old bottle of Springbank, £450. Sticking with the Springbank a recent bottle of cask strength made £130. Other 1970's bottles that did well was a 10 year old Laphroaig, £410, and a Rosebank, £300.

There were two bottles of Balvenie over 8 year old, a 70cl and a Litre. Surprising the 70cl sold better at £160, compared to the £130 for the litre (despite that 70cl not having a box). There were also two bottles of Glen Flagler. The first, an 8 year old with its original red velvet bag, made £280, the other, in original cellophane wrapper made £170.

[b]Cask Strength[/b]
For those who like it a little stronger, there were some nice cask strength bottles on offer. Highlights included the two Rare Malts Selections, the 35 year Millburn making £250 and the 21 year Banff selling for £190.

[b]Specials[/b]
There were a few more unusual lots on offer. The first, a bottle of Old Suntory, is the subject of a whole online debate (http://nonjatta.blogspot.com/2010/02/dating-suntory-old-bottles.html). And to solve the age old question for the topic viewers, it made £160. Another unusual lot was the complete Beneagles Thistle and Rose chess set. This was not the normal set of miniatures that often crop up, but a full chess set, complete with board and a 70cl full bottle of Beneagles (presumably for the winner?!).

The next Whisky sale is planned for November. If you would like to consign any items for the sale or would like to have any of your bottles valued please drop me an email, mark.littler@tennants-ltd.co.uk, or a call 01969 623780. We have very competitive sellers rates, 15%+vat of the hammer price, and reach the world with our sales. As proven with the last sale, the commoditites market is very strong, and resilient to the toughest financial conditions, so there really has never been a better time to sell!

[Grant M]

Thanks for the update Mark, looking forward to seeing what you have up for grabs in November

[whiskyjam]

I was at the auction Mark and ive got to say i was impressed with the set up and how easy it all was, seen as it was my first auction. I was also really happy with my purchases, which were the 4 flora fauna bottles!

[Islay Pete]

I didnt bid but there was a few interesting lots. Mark i shall certainly watch out for your next auction