THE world’s largest known collection of rare and collectable Karuizawa whisky from Japan is to go under the hammer in an online auction.
The collection of 290 bottles, which had been built up over the last 10 years by a European collector, has an estimated value of more than £500,000.
Karuizawa whisky has become one of the world’s most coveted varieties since the distillery stopped production in 2000. The collection being auctioned by Perth-based Whisky Auctioneer covers almost every expression created by the renowned Japanese distillery.
It is the first time such an extensive collection has been made available for auction anywhere in the world.
Amongst the lots on offer will be a bottle of Karuizawa 1960 which last sold at auction in Hong Kong for £96,000 in 2015 setting a new record for a Japanese whisky. Over 230 of the bottles are single casks and include exceptionally rare bottlings
The average price paid for each bottle within the collection is expected to top £2000, although some are likely to sell for considerably more.
Iain McClune, founder and owner of Whisky Auctioneer said: “A collection of this size from one of the world’s most collectable distilleries has never previously been seen at auction, so we’re absolutely thrilled to have fought off some stiff competition to lead the sale.
“While we’ve seen a lot of our business come from within the UK and Europe, this particular collection is likely to have global appeal. We expect to see some significant interest from rare whisky collector hotspots such as the US, Taiwan and of course, Karuizawa’s homeland of Japan.”
Rare whisky expert Andy Simpson from Rare Whisky 101 said: “Over the past few years, we’ve seen the availability of Japanese whisky at auction continue to increase led by the highly sought-after Karuizawa.
"These low volume but high value bottles impact the market significantly with many bottles fetching in excess of £2000, most frequently coming to market as individual bottles or small collections. However, in this case, with such a large collection up for grabs at the same time, it’s going to be fascinating to see exactly how much demand is out there for one of the world’s most coveted rare whiskies.”
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