NEW DELHI: Gold, diamonds, real estate are all passé! Rich investors are turning to collection of art pieces, vintage coins and rare whiskeys, which are giving hefty returns than any of the traditional assets.
According to Luxury Investment Index 2019, the latest report by the London-based international financial consulting firm Knight Frank, collecting rare whisky has given more returns as an investment than any of the traditional collections like gold, diamond or real estate.
In the latest edition of its annual index tracking 10 different categories in the luxury asset class, rare whisky was the best performer, rising 35 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019. “No other asset class comes close to the 12-month or 10-year growth of the Knight Frank Rare Whisky Index, compiled for us by Rare Whisky 101, and which we use to track the price growth of investment-grade Scotch,” the report said.
Whisky was introduced into the index only last year, has risen in value by almost 600 per cent over the past decade.“Rare whisky is emerging as the latest alternative asset class to excite high-net-worth investors, particularly those in Asia,” the report by Knight Frank said.Another interesting return was on Burgundy, a category of wine as a single bottle of 1945 Domaine de la Romanée Conti DRC at Sothebys was sold for whopping USD 558,000.
Next to Whiskey, Art was another item, whose valuation appreciated by 12 per cent in annual basis. The report also highlighted the increasing value of coloured gemstones, seen to be outperforming the wider jewellery market and therefore increasingly popular with investors worldwide. “Promising auction prices of coloured gemstones depict that consumers prefer high-quality gemstones that are rare to collect and unique in designs. More than 100 per cent incremental value of the gemstones and jewellery over a decade have made them lucrative asset investment classes, than just purchasing it for aesthetic value,” said Shishir Baijal, CMD, Knight Frank India.
Rarest of rare
According to the Knight Frank report, a bottle of 60-year-old The Macallan, one of the only 12 with a label designed by pop artist Peter Blake, made over GBP 615,000 at a Bonhams auction in March