Unique private whisky collection up for sale

By Mathew Lyons

Published: 07 February, 2020

Perthshire-based specialist online whisky auction house Whisky Auctioneer has begun its sale of the largest private collection of whisky to go under the hammer.

Richard Gooding’s collection consists of over 3,900 bottles, almost all of which are single-malt Scotch whiskies.

Among them are rare bottles from The Macallan, such as the 1926 Valerio Adami, one of which sold at Bonhams for nearly £850,000 in 2018, and the 1926 Fine & Rare 60 Year Old, one of which sold at Sotheby’s in October 2019 for £1.5m.

The collection also includes rare bottles from Bowmore and Springbank, as well as from now defunct distilleries such as Stromness and Dallas Dhu.

Gooding spent decades compiling his collection, which he kept in a room at home in Colorado known as his ‘Pub’.

Nancy Gooding, his widow, said: “He was always so pleased to acquire the bottles that he was searching for over the years - his mission was to collect a bottle that represented every single distillery, but his favourite was always Bowmore with his preferred whisky being Black Bowmore.”

Whisky writer Angus MacRaild said: “So many of the bottles in this collection are special because they represent such outstanding quality; from wonderful independent rarities, to ancient bottlings of legendary single malts from before the Second World War, to some classic official bottlings.”

The Perfect Collection will be sold by Whisky Auctioneer in two tranches, from 7 to 17 February and from 10 to 20 April.

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