Rare Scotch whisky miniature sells for a record breaking £6,440 at auction

A tiny bottle of single malt whisky with just 5cl of liquid has sold for almost £6,500 at auction.

The record sum was paid for a miniature of Springbank Scotch single malt whisky, which was distilled in 1919, via online auction site Whisky.Auction.

The sale is the most expensive miniature ever sold at auction – with the princely winning bid of £6,440.

The highly sought after whisky was part of a sale from whisky collector and co-founder of online retailer The Whisky Exchange, Sukhinder Singh, sell over 400 bottles from his collection of whisky miniatures.

The latest miniatures and memorabilia auction on the Whisky.Auction site, the full collection reached an incredible £56,732.95 after commission.

The sale also impressive lots such as an extremely rare 5cl 1940s Glenfiddich Special with box, bottled in the 1940s which sold for £2,530; a 5cl Macallan Spiral Label from the 1970s, which sold for £2,185; and a miniature bottle of The Glenlivet 50 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky from The Winchester Collection distilled in 1967 and bottled on 6 June 2018, which sold for £1,552.50.

A keen collector, Sukhinder has been seeking out these rare miniatures since the early 80s but decided to sell a large proportion of his collection to make room for future purchases, keeping just one bottle from each distillery to be displayed in a cabinet with the rest of his collection.

Speaking about the record sale, Sukhinder said: “I am extremely pleased that after 40 years of collecting these miniatures they have found their way into other collections around the world.

“10 miniatures from my collection reached prices of £1000 or more including the Springbank 1919 which achieved £6440, breaking the record for the highest price ever paid for a miniature.

“I am thrilled to see that interest in miniature collecting is at an all-time high as it’s something I fell in love with four decades ago.”

Isabel Graham-Yooll, auction director at Whisky.Auction explained that they have seen a “wonderful renaissance” in the appreciation of rare whisky miniatures.

She added: “Bidders are willing to pay what seems like a lot of money for tiny bottles of whisky but it is the opportunity to taste a piece of history – particularly when standard 70cl or 75cl formats have become inaccessible for many enthusiasts to buy.

“Highly rated limited edition whiskies can seem eye wateringly expensive, but the starting bids for miniatures at Whisky.Auction is just £2 and the market for the oldest and rarest examples is more accessible than ever before.”

The Whisky.Auction site runs a quarterly miniatures and memorabilia auction, with the next auction due to go live on 17 October 2021.

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