wsky1

Rare Malts Rosebank 1981 20 Year Old

£540
61.4%vs 12 months ago

latest hammer price

Rare at auction· 6 lots a year

Auction lots

216

Houses

1

Last sold

26 days ago

Rare Malts Rosebank 1981 20 Year Old is a collectable Scotch whisky from Rosebank aged 20 years. Based on 216 recorded auction lots across 74 months of trading data, the current median hammer price is £520, with the most recent sale at £540. Over the trading window, prices have ranged from £180 (low) to £1,500 (high). Accounting for lot-to-lot variation, a realistic valuation range for Rare Malts Rosebank 1981 20 Year Old is £376–£704 30% around the latest sale).

Year-on-year, Rare Malts Rosebank 1981 20 Year Old is down 61.4%, with a 6-month trend of -14.7% (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.

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About Rosebank

Rosebank is a whisky distillery. Rare Malts Rosebank 1981 20 Year Old is an age-stated bottling at 20 years old, distilled in 1981.

What drives this bottle's value

  • Closed / ghost distillery

    Rosebank was silent from 1993 until its 2023 revival, so bottlings from the original distillery are finite.

  • Single vintage

    Distilled in a single year (1981), so the available batch is inherently finite.

  • Age statement

    A 20-year age statement signals extended maturation, which limits how much was ever bottled.

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.

Release & bottling facts

Distillery
Rosebank
Age
20 years
Vintage
1981
Bottle size
700ml

Latest sale

£540

24-month median

£520

24-month high

£1,500

24-month low

£180

Estimated value · likely range

£376–£704 ±30%

Auction hammers swing lot to lot with condition, fill level and timing. Treat this band — not a single figure — as the bottle's value.

Market presence

last 12 months

Rare at auctiononly a handful of lots a year

Seen at auction

6 lots

Cadence

≈ every 61 days

Trend

40% vs prior year

Houses

1

Activity rank

top 14% of tracked bottles

Last seen

26 days ago

Across the auction houses wsky1 tracks.

14.7%vs 6 months ago
61.4%vs 12 months ago

Price history (monthly median)

£175£860£1,545Mar 13Apr 15Jan 17Jul 18Jan 20Jun 22Jan 26

Recent auction results

MonthMedianLots
August 2026£5402
January 2026£7002
October 2025£6502
April 2025£5202
January 2025£5202
October 2024£5406
July 2024£6336
April 2024£7502
November 2023£1,0002
June 2023£1,1502
November 2022£1,1002
September 2022£1,1502

Comparable bottles

Frequently asked questions

How rare is Rare Malts Rosebank 1981 20 Year Old at auction?

Rare Malts Rosebank 1981 20 Year Old appeared in 6 auction lots over the last 12 months across the auction houses wsky1 tracks — rare at auction (only a handful of lots a year). That is down 40% on the previous year. That puts it in the top 14% by auction activity among the 29,926 bottles wsky1 tracks — most collectable bottles hammer only a handful of times a year.

What is the current auction price of Rare Malts Rosebank 1981 20 Year Old?

The latest hammer price for Rare Malts Rosebank 1981 20 Year Old at auction is £540. Across the most recent 24 months of auction data, the median hammer price is £520, with a high of £1,500 and a low of £180. 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.

How much has Rare Malts Rosebank 1981 20 Year Old changed in value over the past year?

Rare Malts Rosebank 1981 20 Year Old is down 61.4% year-on-year based on monthly median hammer prices. Over the past 6 months it has moved down 14.7%. Past auction performance is not a guarantee of future value.

Where can I sell Rare Malts Rosebank 1981 20 Year Old?

Rare Malts Rosebank 1981 20 Year Old 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 £520 (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%.

Is Rare Malts Rosebank 1981 20 Year Old a good investment?

Over the past 12 months Rare Malts Rosebank 1981 20 Year Old has moved down 61.4%, with a current median hammer price of £520. The bottle has been observed at auction across 216 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.

How does wsky1 calculate the price of Rare Malts Rosebank 1981 20 Year Old?

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 £520 — are derived from this monthly-median methodology. All prices are hammer prices in GBP, excluding buyer's premium.

Does the price include 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 Rare Malts Rosebank 1981 20 Year Old that hammers at £540 would cost the buyer approximately £680 all-in including buyer's premium.

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