Rare whisky auctions can be a funny thing in that they often drive bidding for special bottles to some pretty near record highs. A recent case in point around this was some Japanese single malts, but we’ve also seen this happen with very expensive Scotch as well as some craft American whiskey. The term rare, though, is about to be taken to a new level with word of a bottle of whisky, bottled over 100 years ago, that’s about to go up for auction online.
Scotch Whisky Auctions said a rare expression of Croft Blend Fine Old Scotch will go under the virtual gavel hammer starting this Friday. It has quite the interesting back story in that it
travelled to France in 1914, carried by William Mill, a soldier in the King’s Own Scottish Borderers. It was never opened and was brought back by William to his home in Dumfriesshire when the war ended. It has remained in the possession of his family and stored in a suitcase under a bed ever since.
“The bottle was produced between 1892 and 1913 as the glass bottle manufacturer, Cannington, Shaw & Co., were using a particular stamp format during this period which is present on the base of the bottle,” said Peter Burns from Scotch Whisky Auctions, in a statement. “Apart from that, nothing is known about this bottle and the whisky inside it.”
It is truly a mystery and despite casting the net far and wide for answers, through archivists, whisky writers, historical institutions and others knowledgeable individuals, not one single person has been able to shed any light on it.”
The whisky, with a starting price of £2,000 (around $3,150 USD), will include in the auction lot, according to the BBC, “a note written by the soldier on the back of a photograph of him taken in 1908.” The photo and whisky are expected to produce “some interesting bidding activity” when it comes up on the website.
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