Sotheby’s Largest Scotch Whisky Auction: A Hollywood Collection Time Capsule Worth Millions

The auctioned bottles at Sotheby’s in New York as part of the Hollywood Collection and Part 4 of the Three Continents Collection. (Photo: Sotheby’s)

In 2008, as the global financial crisis took hold, an entrepreneur from southern California bought a shipping container of valuable whisky bottles from a struggling U.S. whisky broker.

This week, 14 years later, those same bottles went under the hammer at Sotheby’s in New York as part of the Hollywood Collection and Part 4 of the Three Continents Collection. The auction was a huge success, with a total hammer price of $2,034,100 (well above Sotheby’s pre-sale estimate of $1,481,700).

According to Whisky Advocate, “This one was a true celebration of scotch, with over 1,100 lots on offer from 91 single malt and grain distilleries representing all regions of Scotland. It was one of the most comprehensive sales of scotch from closed distilleries in the U.S. for many years.”

This auction also attracted a large international audience, as opposed to some of Sotheby’s previous auctions. The scotch that earned the highest hammer price was Macallan Millennium 50-year-old 1949 decanter sold for $32,000, the highest bid.

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