Bowmore 1985 26 Year Old Vintage Release is a collectable Scotch whisky from Bowmore aged 26 years. Based on 24 recorded auction lots across 19 months of trading data, the current median hammer price is £540, with the most recent sale at £540. Over the trading window, prices have ranged from £330 (low) to £800 (high). Accounting for lot-to-lot variation, a realistic valuation range for Bowmore 1985 26 Year Old Vintage Release is £381–£699 (±29% around the latest sale).
Year-on-year, Bowmore 1985 26 Year Old Vintage Release is up 50%, with a 6-month trend of -28% (down). wsky1 aggregates hammer prices from major public Scotch whisky auctions including Scotch Whisky Auctions, Whisky Auctioneer, and Bonhams. All prices are in GBP and exclude buyer's premium (typically 24–28% additional at major houses). Past auction performance is not a guarantee of future value.
Bowmore is a whisky distillery. Bowmore 1985 26 Year Old Vintage Release is an age-stated bottling at 26 years old, distilled in 1985.
Single vintage
Distilled in a single year (1985), so the available batch is inherently finite.
Considerable age
A 26-year age statement reflects long maturation and the small surviving volume that implies — older stock is scarcer.
These are scarcity and demand signals drawn from the bottle's own attributes — they describe the bottle, not a prediction of future price. Not investment advice.
Latest sale
£540
24-month median
£540
24-month high
£800
24-month low
£330
Estimated value · likely range
£381–£699 ±29%
Auction hammers swing lot to lot with condition, fill level and timing. Treat this band — not a single figure — as the bottle's value.
| Month | Median | Lots |
|---|---|---|
| November 2025 | £540 | 2 |
| August 2025 | £650 | 1 |
| June 2024 | £650 | 1 |
| April 2024 | £800 | 1 |
| December 2023 | £700 | 2 |
| September 2023 | £800 | 1 |
| May 2023 | £750 | 1 |
| September 2021 | £750 | 1 |
| July 2021 | £800 | 1 |
| April 2021 | £800 | 1 |
| December 2016 | £500 | 1 |
| July 2016 | £425 | 2 |
The latest hammer price for Bowmore 1985 26 Year Old Vintage Release at auction is £540. Across the most recent 24 months of auction data, the median hammer price is £540, with a high of £800 and a low of £330. All prices are in GBP and exclude buyer's premium. Data is aggregated from major auction houses including Scotch Whisky Auctions, Whisky Auctioneer, and Bonhams.
Bowmore 1985 26 Year Old Vintage Release is up 50% year-on-year based on monthly median hammer prices. Over the past 6 months it has moved down 28%. Past auction performance is not a guarantee of future value.
Bowmore 1985 26 Year Old Vintage Release regularly appears at major Scotch whisky auction houses including Scotch Whisky Auctions (Scotland), Whisky Auctioneer (Scotland), Just Whisky, Whisky Hammer, and Bonhams. The current median hammer price is £540 (excluding buyer's premium). At most major houses, buyer's premium adds 24–28% on top of hammer for the buyer; sellers typically receive the hammer price minus a sales commission of 5–15%.
Over the past 12 months Bowmore 1985 26 Year Old Vintage Release has moved up 50%, with a current median hammer price of £540. The bottle has been observed at auction across 24 recorded lots in our database. wsky1 provides hammer-price data for informational purposes only — not investment advice. Whisky is an illiquid alternative asset; secondary-market value depends heavily on bottle condition, fill level, label integrity, and timing.
wsky1 ingests public auction results from major auction houses (via direct scraping of Scotch Whisky Auctions, Whisky Auctioneer, Bonhams, and Whisky Hammer, plus aggregated data from WhiskyHunter). For each bottle, we group hammer prices by year-month and compute the median price per month. The figures shown — latest £540, 24-month median £540 — are derived from this monthly-median methodology. All prices are hammer prices in GBP, excluding buyer's premium.
No. All prices on wsky1 are hammer prices only. Buyer's premium at major Scotch whisky auction houses currently runs at 24–28% on top of the hammer price. A bottle of Bowmore 1985 26 Year Old Vintage Release that hammers at £540 would cost the buyer approximately £680 all-in including buyer's premium.
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