March 2025 Miniatures, Memorabilia & Books Auction Results

There were many miniature whisky gems to be had in our latest auction as well as a selection of interesting vintage books and memorabilia. Here’s a look at just a few of the highlights from our March miniatures, memorabilia & books auction results.

Macallan Fine & Rare

An eye catching array of Macallan Fine & Rare Collection miniatures greeted any bidder opening the first page of the auction with  28 of these collectors favourites open for bids. The full series comprises of sixty releases and spans nine decades of whisky distillation dating back as far as 1926. A complete list can be found in our Auctioneers Guide to the Macallan Fine & Rare.

Top spot in the auction was inevitably taken by one of these, namely the Macallan 1948 53 Year Old, ending on a hammer price of £1,600. This was closely followed by the Macallan 1949 52 Year Old and 1952 50 Year Old fetching £1,500 each.

Scotch Whiskies

While Macallan took a fair chunk of the limelight, there were plenty of fantastic whiskies to be found in other categories.

Glenfiddich was a popular brand on the night with this Glenfiddich 50 Year Old leading the way. The ceramic decanter in a smart presentation case fetched £1,400. Other Glenfiddich ceramics proved popular with three Glenfiddich 18 Year Old Ancient Reserve & Branded Water Jug lots fetching £625 each and these pairs of Glenfiddich 12 Year Old decanters bottled for the Club de Colleccionistas Peruanos de Miniaturas de Licor selling for £430 and £360.

Vintage malt highlights included 1970s bottlings such as this Talisker 100 Proof Black Label Gold Eagle bottled by Gordon & MacPhail (£210), an Ardbeg Old Islay Malt (£150), a gorgeous Bowmore Sherriff’s (£120) and this simply labelled Laphroaig 10 Year Old (£260).

From Campbeltown a Springbank 1965 28 Year Old single cask bottled for the legendary London bar and retailer Milroy’s fetched £220 and a Longrow 1974 16 Year Old sold for £85.

This Ardbeg 1999 Galileo & Cocktail Shaker also attracted plenty of attention. When Ardbeg Galileo was launched, these rocket-shaped cocktail shakers carrying a miniature whisky were given to guests at the press event but the sets were never released to the public. The lucky collector picking up this lot won with a bid of £470.

Books

The star of the books category this auction was undoubtedly this beautiful Johnnie Walker Around The World, produced in the early 20th Century and telling the story of the Walker family as they travelled to spread the word of their brand. The book may have set the record for one of the longest bidding battles we have seen with the competition continuing on well past the category deadline and far towards the close of the auction. It eventually settled on an impressive £875.

A first edition of Whisky by Aeneas MacDonald published in 1930 fetched £300 while another first edition of Ian MacDonald’s Smuggling In The Highlands published in 1914 sold for £200.

Some other interesting vintage books included Reminisces 1893-1938 by William M. Bergius, a rare account of the Scotch Whisky Industry around the turn of the 20th Century written by one of the then owners of the Teacher’s Whisky Company. Some late bidding saw this end on £260. An essay published in 1875 and entitled Alcohol And Science, Alcohol: What It Is And What It Does fetched £120, while some vintage wine books also saw plenty of interest with Vines And Vine Culture, published 1892, selling for £120 and The History Of The Wine Trade In England Vol. 1, published 1906, fetching £110.

A great lot containing two must have books for whisky enthusiasts Alfred Barnard’s The Whisky Distilleries of The United Kingdom and Misako Udo’s The Scottish Whisky Distilleries, sold for £170.

Roundup

There was only one lot of liqueurs in the auction but this set of Green & Yellow Chartreuse dating from the 1950s-60s fetched an impressive £160.

Most competed for memorabilia item of the auction went to this Copper Pressure Valve that saw plenty of late bidding before eventually ending on a hammer price of £130. Also selling for £130 was a Copper Barrel Stencil, while other items of distillery equipment such as these Sikes’s Hydrometers (£110-£120) and Collapsible Gauging Rod (£45) were on offer for whisky historians.

A set of 9 Bell’s Ceramic Decanters including some Staff Bells, sold for £460.

For some fun additions to any whisky shelf there were a selection of Jim Beam Ceramics featuring foxes in various outfits produced for the International Association Of The Jim Beam Bottle And Specialities Club that sold for £45-£60 each.

See the full March Miniatures, Memorabilia & Books Auction results here.

See our past auction roundups here.