Whisky and Gold

GSDMum

I know nothing about buying and selling or investing in whisky or gold. 

We've got a bottle of Macallan whisky in a presentation cask, together with a certificate. It was valued by a whiskey auction dealer 4 years ago at being about £1k.

We've also got an ounce of gold, wrapped in a plastic sleeve.

One of our ideas was to cash them in when one of us dies, using the money to pay for the funeral - we're not intending to will them to anyone. 

I'd be really interesting in other's opinions on what you would do with them? How would you cash them in? It would be daunting for one of us to cash them in when grieving.  

Also, at the moment we're having a bit of a bumpy ride, and will be until the end of the year, therefore it's tempting to cash them in now. BTW I'm late 60s, and my husband in his late 70s, and we don't envisage leaving this mortal coil for a few years yet. 

benbay001

GSDMum said:

I'd be really interesting in other's opinions on what you would do with them? 

GSDMum said:

I know nothing about buying and selling or investing in whiskey or gold. 

If i held something i openly admit to knowing nothing about, id sell it straight away.
I have no idea how, but someone will be along shortly to tell you that, no doubt.
If the money is spare after you've sold it, you could always chuck it into some suitably risky ETF.

GSDMum

benbay001 said:

I have no idea how, but someone will be along shortly to tell you that, no doubt.
If the money is spare after you've sold it, you could always chuck it into some suitably risky ETF.

What strange comments to make on a forum.

I never invested in them, one was acquired in payment of a favour some 25 years ago, the other was a gift about 20 years ago. 

daveyjp

Gold is simple to sell.  It has a published price so you know what its worth before entering into a sale.  A manufacturing jeweller may buy it.

Whisky (no 'e' if its a Macallan) is more of a mystery,  Whilst it can be valued, any auction is down to what someone will pay and you need two people who really want it to achieve a good price.

Aretnap

As far as the whiskey goes, the auction dealer who valued it four years ago might be as good a place to start as any.

Sounds like you acquired the items largely by accident rather than because you had any sort of plan for them. If you're viewing them as a form of investment, a good way to approach the question of what to do with them now is to ask what you would do if you didn't have them, but had a couple of thousand pounds in the bank instead? Would you spend the money on an expensive bottle of whisky and a piece of gold, or would you do something else with it? As by your own admission you know little about investing in whisky or gold I suspect the answer is the latter, which is a clear pointer to selling them and doing that "something else" with the money instead - be that saving it for a rainy day, investing it in some other way, or spending it now.

If they have sentimental value then that changes the calculation somewhat, but that would make it more of a personal question than a pure investment one. 

ColdIron

These are reputable gold vendors, I wouldn't leave it until what will be a stressful and busy time in your lives

https://www.chards.co.uk/
https://www.bairdmint.com/
https://atkinsonsbullion.com/
https://www.bullionbypost.co.uk/
https://www.hattongardenmetals.com/

HansOndabush

I would hang on to your gold for a few more years, l think you will find it a good investment in the coming economic tsunami. When you do sell, try and visit the nearest bullion dealer otherwise you have to use post and insurance which imho is less satisfactory.

Nebulous2

I have a gold krugerrand that I was given as a teenager, after the sale of a family business. I've no intention of ever selling it, so I suppose my heirs will have to make that decision. 

The gold price moves up and down and at the time you needed the money it might not be the optimum time. You could sell gold fairly readily, but whisky might be a bit more work. Either way it is not something I would want to deal with after a bereavement. Undertakers generally expect paid quickly in my experience.  

If I were you I'd take a bit of time to work out a good price and cash in when I had a good opportunity. You could then set the money aside somewhere safe for when you needed it. 

[Deleted User]

The Whisky Shop has auctions of whisky (and whiskey) between members, I don't know if they have historical records of prices for sales rather than just the previous week highlights but if they do that might be a good step. Whisky is always about what someone will pay for it, but unless you have a product that is both desirable, rare and has some special value (like a limited numbered batch, from a one-off issue etc) then a £1000 value may well still be a £1000 value now or it could have gone up or even down.

As an example of Macallan, the 2012 Queen's Diamond Jubilee was selling around £500 at launch, one of 2012 bottles. £4000-£8000 is pretty common now, whisky shop sold one at £4700 with 24 bids and that was a bit worn

GSDMum

Deleted_User said:

The Whisky Shop has auctions of whisky (and whiskey) between members, I don't know if they have historical records of prices for sales rather than just the previous week highlights but if they do that might be a good step. Whisky is always about what someone will pay for it, but unless you have a product that is both desirable, rare and has some special value (like a limited numbered batch, from a one-off issue etc) then a £1000 value may well still be a £1000 value now or it could have gone up or even down.

As an example of Macallan, the 2012 Queen's Diamond Jubilee was selling around £500 at launch, one of 2012 bottles. £4000-£8000 is pretty common now, whisky shop sold one at £4700 with 24 bids and that was a bit worn

Thank you, very interesting.

Our bottle; cask was filled in 1977, and was bottled in 2008, from the cask there are 211 bottles, this bottle is #206. Bottle, casket, and certificate is pristine. Think it's time for the Macallan to be with someone who'll appreciate it. 

 Thank you everyone for replying... it's a great help to bounce these decision off others. Appreciate your time 

BTW the bottle was a present from an (ex) SinL, believe he purchased a few of them for around £100 (can't be certain).

eskbanker

Looks like one of those went for £1,450 at auction last December:

https://www.whiskyshop.com/auctions/a20598-macallan-1977-30-year-old-douglas-laing-old-rare