The world’s largest marketplace for art and luxury, Sotheby’s recently held its first American whiskey auction named The Thoroughbred Collection.
The selection of American whiskeys featured more than 250 lots of some of the rarest Bourbons and ryes ever produced. The auction was 100 per cent sold, totalling an impressive $965,813, which was triple the overall pre-sale estimate.
The auction also marked the first single-owner spirits sale in the US, which was accrued over decades by a dedicated and knowledgeable anonymous private collector.
Sotheby’s sale concluded on the eve of the Kentucky Derby, with the collection led by Kentucky whiskeys. The top lot was a LeNell Red Hook Rye 24 Year Old Barrell, which doubled its pre-sale high estimate, selling for $43,750. Other notable lots included an A.H. Hirsch Reserve 18 Year Old 46.5 abv from 1974 that achieved $40,000, 20x its pre-sale low estimate and the oldest vintage in the sale, an Old Sunny Brook 7 Year Old 100 Proof from 1912, soared to $12,500, over 35 times its pre-sale low estimate.
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