Sotheby’s The Rare American Whiskey Selection Sells for 15x Pre-Sale Estimate, Realizing $187,245 (£150,000)

The Rare American Whiskey Selection – the unique set of five prototype bottles originally produced as the prototypes for a shelved United Distillers collectible American Whiskey project in 1997 – has sold for $187,245 (£150,000). Three determined bidders battled it out, driving the final sale price to an amount 15x the pre-sale low estimate (£10,000-100,000). Representing the rarest American whiskey ever seen at auction, the set was acquired – perhaps unsurprisingly – by an American private collector.

Jonny Fowle, Sotheby’s Head of Whisky & Spirits, North America and EMEA, said: “This result establishes not only a record price for American whiskey sold at Sotheby’s but it also stands as yet another benchmark in the auction market for collectible US bottles. This is a truly unique collection, the rarest lot of its kind ever to have been offered for sale – the only set in existence and a historic record that glimpses into the potential alternative reality of American whiskey making.”

The bottles were offered as part of a 14-lot sale of the Finest Scotch & The Rarest American Whiskey, which was 100% sold, achieving an overall total close to $975,900 (£781,780) and with almost two-thirds of the lots selling for prices above their high estimates.

Leading the sale in terms of value was The Macallan In Lalique Six Pillars Collection, which made $624,150 (£500,000).