A Swedish collector's cellar has fetched more than US$4.5m at Zachys in New York – nearly double its high estimate.
All 656 lots of 'The Magnificent Private Cellar of Dr Nils Stormby,' as the catalogue billed the collection, were sold on 28 September.
Zachys had valued the cellar at US$1,893,330 to US$2,987,090. On the day it fetched US$4,526,094.
The Château d'Yquem section, estimated at US$602,000 to US$985,750, fetched US$2,013,540. Seventy vintages of Yquem ranging from 1858 to 2001 were offered.
Two cases of 1945 Yquem fetched US$178,500. Three separate cases of 1949 Yquem made US$119,000, US$95,200 and US$83,300 respectively. Their varied appearances evidently raised questions about their conditions.
Twenty-four half-bottles of 1962 Yquem sold for US$65,450. A 1945 magnum of Yquem brought US$59,500.
Zachys' catalogue said that Dr Stormby, a pathologist and inventor of medical devices, had stored his steadily accumulated holdings in his home's deep cellar, in Malmo, Sweden, since the early 1960s.
'The wines have not moved from the day they were delivered,' it said. 'The humidity was held high, around 85%, and the temperature low, at around 50 Fahrenheit. You would be hard-pressed to find better storage.'
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