Our major market indices soar again. Several members of our Fab50 collection achieve new record prices. Game of Thrones arrived on the secondary market, but winter is gone, as this is our price update for February 2019.
This month we observed more than 13.000 bottles of whisky changing ownership. The average price paid was 420 Euros, and no less than 7.000 whiskies in our database experienced a price change. With 113 trades, the Macallan Concept Number 1 was the most traded release. These prices averaged to around 150 Euros. We count five Macallan releases among the ten most traded whiskies of February 2019.
But let’s have a look at the broader picture. Our major market index, the Whiskystats Whisky Index (WWI), gained 5,3% and now stands at 207,2 index points. This means that the 500 historically most traded whiskies gained 5,3% in value this month. This brings the WWI very close to its all-time peak in October 2018 of 210,7.
Fabulous Turnaround
Due to the methodology we are using to calculate the WWI, you will never find a real whisky collection that performs like the index. The reason is simple. The list of whiskies that contribute to the WWI can change each month. That is why we also look at what we call the Fabulous 50, a hand-selected collection of 50 very rare and very collectable releases.
From August 2018 to January 2019, the Fab50 collection lost almost 12% in value. This seemed like a reasonable price consolidation after the total collection worth increased by 24% from May to August 2018. And now, in February 2019, we see an incredible increase of 11,7%. The Fab50 collection is now worth almost 123.000 Euros. So naturally, we need to ask which bottles caused this turnaround?
One of the major drivers is the Karuizawa Single Cask 6426. Released to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of The Whisky Exchange, this Japanese single malt traded for more than 17.000 Euros this month. Other Fab50 members with a decent price increase are the Glenlivet 25yo Royal Wedding and the Talisker 25yo 2001 Release. In autumn 2018, the Talisker regularly traded for around 650 Euros. A couple of months later, the price tag reached almost 900 Euros.
Other Ups & Downs
When looking at the top value-gainer of February 2019, we see the Compass Box Orangerie (375ml release) leading this list. In August 2014, this Compass Box expression sold for 41 Euros. The 280 Euros achieved at Whisky Auctioneer equals a 580% increase in value for this orange-infused whisky. Also among the top value-gainers of this month is something questionable: the Arran Single Cask 1968 release. In contrast to the Orangerie, this Arran realized a 520% value increase over three months. In November 2018, this whisky traded for only 100 Euros. However, for some reason, a bidder at Scotch Whisky Auctions was willing to pay 650 Euros. We strongly recommend a Whiskystats membership to prevent overpaying.
Of course, there were also some value-losers this month. One prominent example is the Lagavulin Game of Thrones (House Lannister) edition. This month, the average price paid was 68 Euros, but it fetched between 260 and 450 Euros during the previous months. We regularly observe such horrendous prices for new releases, but why someone would pay so much when the whisky is available in almost every online shop, we cannot tell.
Do not forget to check the latest changes in value of your personal whisky collections here on Whiskystats.
Disclaimer: the whisky market insights presented in this article are based on the Whiskystats database at the time of publication. Whiskystats is constantly adding new data, and therefore some charts and figures may not match after initial publication.