The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
It better be dram good for £825k
Auction: Over 1,900 bottles go in sale of world’ s largest private whisky collection
The world’s largest private whisky collection has broken several records in an online auction.
The first part of the sale of Richard Gooding’s The Perfect Collection achieved in excess of £3.2 million with the sale of over 1,900 bottles.
Highlights included a Macallan 1926 Valerio Adami 60 Year Old, which sold for £825,000, breaking the previous price of £702,347 set in 2018.
The sale through online auction house Whisky Auctioneer drew 1,642 bidders from 56 countries.
Mr Gooding, a former PepsiCo bottling magnate, built up the collection over decades.
Iain McClune, founder of Whisky Auctioneer, said: “We always knew that The Perfect Collection by Mr Gooding could make whisky history.
“Not only was the highest ever sale price for Macallan 1926 Valerio Adami achieved at over a million dollars, Whisky Auctioneer became the first online whisky auction to sell a million-dollar bottle.
The first part of the collection sale achieved £3,290,000 of sales over 1,932 bottles.
“For me it is the diversity within The Perfect Collection that is perhaps the most exciting aspect.”
Other highlights include a bottle of the Macallan 1928 Anniversary Malt 50 Year Old, which sold for £92,000.
All the prices exclude the auction house fees. Around 2,000 bottles will be included in the auction’s phase two, which will take place from April 10-20. Whisky expert Angus MacRaild said: “The results were significant for two key reasons in my mind.
“Firstly, the top end hammer prices demonstrated that not only can the online auction model compete with the traditional auction houses with these kinds of bottles, but in Whisky Auctioneer’s case it demonstrably outperforms them.
“Secondly, and of more interest and relevance to the wider whisky community, the prices were still largely driven by perceived quality of liquid and overall scarcity of each individual bottle.”
He added: “Prices were generally high but hundreds of beautiful, historic and superb old whiskies have found new homes across the world. Some will be kept but most will be opened and enjoyed sooner or later – something I’m sure Mr Gooding would have wholeheartedly approved of.”
Mr Gooding’s widow Nancy said previously: “It was clear to us as a family that collecting Scotch was one of Richard’s greatest passions – an endeavour that spanned over two decades.
“He loved every aspect of it, from researching the many single malt distilleries to visiting them and tasting their whiskies.”