Port Ellen 1978 39 Year Old 2018 Release is a collectable Scotch whisky from Port Ellen aged 39 years, bottled in 2018. Based on 17 recorded auction lots across 15 months of trading data, the current median hammer price is £3,400, with the most recent sale at £2,700. Over the trading window, prices have ranged from £2,500 (low) to £4,800 (high). Accounting for lot-to-lot variation, a realistic valuation range for Port Ellen 1978 39 Year Old 2018 Release is £2,462–£2,938 (±9% around the latest sale).
Year-on-year, Port Ellen 1978 39 Year Old 2018 Release is down 28.9%, with a 6-month trend of -20.6% (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.
Port Ellen is a whisky distillery. Port Ellen 1978 39 Year Old 2018 Release is an age-stated bottling at 39 years old, distilled in 1978, released in 2018.
Closed / ghost distillery
Port Ellen closed in 1983; bottlings from its original era are finite and command a scarcity premium at auction.
Single vintage
Distilled in a single year (1978), so the available batch is inherently finite.
Considerable age
A 39-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
£2,700
24-month median
£3,400
24-month high
£4,800
24-month low
£2,500
Estimated value · likely range
£2,462–£2,938 ±9%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| December 2025 | £2,700 | 1 |
| April 2025 | £3,000 | 1 |
| February 2025 | £2,500 | 1 |
| January 2025 | £2,700 | 1 |
| March 2024 | £3,200 | 1 |
| March 2023 | £3,800 | 1 |
| February 2021 | £3,400 | 1 |
| January 2021 | £3,200 | 1 |
| December 2020 | £3,600 | 1 |
| January 2020 | £3,200 | 3 |
| October 2019 | £3,600 | 1 |
| August 2019 | £3,600 | 1 |
More from Port Ellen
The latest hammer price for Port Ellen 1978 39 Year Old 2018 Release at auction is £2,700. Across the most recent 24 months of auction data, the median hammer price is £3,400, with a high of £4,800 and a low of £2,500. 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.
Port Ellen 1978 39 Year Old 2018 Release is down 28.9% year-on-year based on monthly median hammer prices. Over the past 6 months it has moved down 20.6%. Past auction performance is not a guarantee of future value.
Port Ellen 1978 39 Year Old 2018 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 £3,400 (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 Port Ellen 1978 39 Year Old 2018 Release has moved down 28.9%, with a current median hammer price of £3,400. The bottle has been observed at auction across 17 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 £2,700, 24-month median £3,400 — 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 Port Ellen 1978 39 Year Old 2018 Release that hammers at £2,700 would cost the buyer approximately £3,402 all-in including buyer's premium.
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