Port Ellen - 20 Year Old (1978) Rare Malts is a collectable Scotch whisky from Port Ellen aged 20 years. Based on 6 recorded auction lots across 5 months of trading data, the current median hammer price is £840, with the most recent sale at £780. Over the trading window, prices have ranged from £740 (low) to £1,300 (high). Accounting for lot-to-lot variation, a realistic valuation range for Port Ellen - 20 Year Old (1978) Rare Malts is £643–£917 (±18% around the latest sale).
Port Ellen is a whisky distillery. Port Ellen - 20 Year Old (1978) Rare Malts is an age-stated bottling at 20 years old, distilled in 1978.
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.
Age statement
A 20-year age statement signals extended maturation, which limits how much was ever bottled.
Named / limited release
Released as rare, a named edition rather than part of the standard core range.
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
£780
24-month median
£840
24-month high
£1,300
24-month low
£740
Estimated value · likely range
£643–£917 ±18%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | £780 | 2 |
| January 2026 | £740 | 1 |
| April 2024 | £840 | 1 |
| July 2023 | £1,075 | 1 |
| July 2021 | £1,300 | 1 |
The latest hammer price for Port Ellen - 20 Year Old (1978) Rare Malts at auction is £780. Across the most recent 24 months of auction data, the median hammer price is £840, with a high of £1,300 and a low of £740. 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.
wsky1 currently has fewer than 12 months of auction data for Port Ellen - 20 Year Old (1978) Rare Malts, so a year-on-year trend is not yet computed. Recent hammer prices range from £740 to £1,300 (median £840).
Port Ellen - 20 Year Old (1978) Rare Malts 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 £840 (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%.
Port Ellen - 20 Year Old (1978) Rare Malts has appeared in 6 recorded auction lots in our database, with a current median hammer price of £840. wsky1 provides hammer-price data for informational purposes only — not investment advice.
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 £780, 24-month median £840 — 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 - 20 Year Old (1978) Rare Malts that hammers at £780 would cost the buyer approximately £983 all-in including buyer's premium.
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