The Under the Hammer column with Hartleys

An early section of the sale included 65 lots of whisky, ranging from job lots of commemorative Bells pottery decanters to rare and sought after Highland Malt.

The joint best price of £2,800 appeared in this area for a bottle of Bowmore 30th Anniversary Islay Single Malt distilled in 1963 in a limited edition of only 600 bottles.

Other Highland Malt included a bottle of 1981 21 year old Brora at £420, and a 17 year old Bunnahabhain Connoisseurs Choice dated 1965 selling for £440.

Champagne was another area which produced some intense bidding. The two best prices here were £850 for a numbered bottle of 1962 Krug, and £1,550 for a magnum of 1971 Dom Perignon Rose.

Port was mainly available in single bottles or small quantities rather than boxed dozens, and the best price was the most speculative.

This was for five very old unlabelled bottles believed to contain port which reached an astonishing final price of £1,650. Otherwise the best single bottle price was £280 for a 1940 Niepoort.

The Burgundy and Rhone section was where much of the pre-sale interest was aimed particularly for older bottles of red wine. Amongst the white, £1,250 was paid for six mixed bottles of 2006 and 2007 Batard, Chevalier and Puligny Montrachet,

This price however was eclipsed by two bottles of 1996 Romanee-St-Vincent Marey-Mouge which sold for £2,800, while a single 2001 bottle of the same wine achieved £1,100.

Also in this section was a single bottle of 1997 La Tache, Romanee-Conti which sold for £1,900, while a group of six bottles of Chambolle-Musigny dated 2002, 2005 and 2006 found £850.

For once the Bordeaux offering could not compete with the previous section but it nevertheless had its moments.

Three bottles of 1985 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild reached £1,100, three bottles of 1983 Chateau Latour found £700, while a bottle of 1948 Chateau d’Yquem and a bottle of 1946 Chateau Latour each achieved a price of £540.