Auction record for £1m bottle of Macallan whisky at £48,000 a glass

A hand painted bottle of 1926 60-year-old Macallan whisky sold for a hammer price of £1m at auction, equating to around £48,000 per single shot.

Extracted from Antiques Trade Gazette | Laura Chesters

A hand painted bottle of 1926 60-year-old Macallan whisky by Irish artist Michael Dillon. The bottle depicts Easter Elchies House at The Macallan Distillery against the backdrop of the Scottish Highlands.

At £1.2m including premium, the hand-painted bottle by Irish artist Michael Dillon set a world auction record at Christie’s on November 29.

Artists Sir Peter Blake and Valerio Adami each designed a label for a total of 24 individually numbered bottles of the 1926 Macallan but this hand-painted version by Dillon is the only one known.

It was first offered for sale by Fortnum & Mason in London in 1999.

Tim Triptree, Christie’s international director of wine said the result “confirms the strength of the market for whisky”.

Bonhams sold a 1926 60-year-old Macallan with a label by Valerio Adami for a premium-inclusive £848,750 on October 3 and also in October Sotheby’s New York sold a 1926 60-year-old Macallan with a label by artist Sir Peter Blake for a premium-inclusive $843,200.