This month a bottle of 1920s Clynelish sold at auction. This was a stunning example of a bottle that is around 100 years old and may well be the only one of its kind left, which makes the hammer price of £20,300 seem very reasonable!
I think this bottle is a good example of how something being ‘too scarce’ can have a negative impact on the value if it isn’t combined with considerable outreach and education of potential buyers.
For context, a bottle of Brora 22 year old, distilled in 1972 and bottled in the 1990s also sold this month. The bottle from the Rare Malts Selection sold for £11,933 (13,525 EUR), over half the price of the 100 year old bottle.
The 1920s bottle of Clynelish (Brora) that sold for just over £20,000 – a relative bargain compared to the Macallan pictured below.
Despite their different names these whiskies were distilled at the same distillery. A new Clynelish distillery was built on the same site in 1967 and production of Clynelish moved. The old distillery temporarily closed then reopened in 1969, renamed Brora. Brora was eventually closed ‘completely’ in 1983 (it reopened again in 2021 but that’s another story).
Even so, why is a 100 year old, likely one of one bottle, worth only twice as much as a bottle that is barely 30 years old and whilst scarce is still seen annually at auction? Hyper scarcity without the right marketing can actually hamper the value of a product. Branding and market understanding makes a difference too; Brora is currently a more valuable brand than Clynelish and only if you understand the history of the two distilleries would you realise this is technically a 100 year old bottle of Brora.
The record hammer price for this Macallan Distill Your World New York is £20,500 – as much as the ultra rare Clynelish pictured above.
The perfect illustration of this effect is summarised by the Macallan Distil Your World New York Edition. This bottle was released in 2022 in a limited edition of 1,000, at least 81 bottles have been sold so far and the auction price peaked at £20,500 in 2022. The recent price was £11,400. How could a modern bottle of no age statement whisky be worth more than a 100 year old bottle? I believe it is the combination of branding and the perfect amount of scarcity that creates desire and competition, and which ultimately drives secondary market value.
The moral of the story? Age and scarcity isn’t everything with whisky collecting. A comprehensive understanding of the market will help you make clever purchases rather than following the crowd. If you are looking to invest in whisky but don’t necessarily have time to build that understanding yourself and would like professional advice, please get in touch.
