Top whiskies lead Bonhams HK sale

Scotch and Japanese whiskies led Bonhams’ recent Hong Kong sale, with lots of the Macallan and Dalmore selling for many times over their pre-sale estimates.

The auction’s top lot was a bottle of The Macallan 1928 50-year-old, which went for HK$1.5 million, with a bottle of 59 year-old The Dalmore ‘Eos’ 1951 making HK$1.1m and a 55 year-old Macallan in Lalique sold for HK$1m.

Five bottles of Japanese whiskies including Karuizawa 16 and 18 year-old, Kawasaki 1980 33 year-old and Hanyu 2000 ‘Bar Keller’, made HK$930,000. A single bottle of Hanyu Ichiro’s ‘9 of Hearts’ saw the hammer come down at HK$471,000.

With all of the top 20 lots at the sale taken up by whiskies – mostly The Macallan – wine took rather a back seat but three bottles of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s 2009 La Tâche made HK$117,800; six bottles of 2010 Petrus realised HK$198,400 and three bottles of 1998 Screaming Eagle HK$62,248.

Daniel Lam, Bonhams’ Director of Wine & Spirits, Asia, commented: “We are pleased with the result: a sale total of HK$32.5million with top prices led by early Scotch whiskies and the Japanese ‘Ghost Series’ in seven bottles.

“Over 90% of the whisky buyers are private collectors, showing that market confidence continues to be strong. Once again, the sale attracted global participation spanning America, Europe and Asia, with interest from not only Greater China, but also from new whisky markets in Southeast Asia such as Vietnam and Malaysia.

“The result continues Bonhams’ leadership in whisky auctions, and we look forward to our next whisky sale in Hong Kong this summer on 16 August.”