LONDON — A new world record has been achieved for the world’s most expensive whiskey collectors’ set, following the global unveiling of the highly anticipated ‘The Emerald Isle Collection’ by The Craft Irish Whiskey Co., in partnership with Fabergé.
The inaugural launch of these highly limited boxes has set a world record at $2million USD. The final bid and private sale of the first Emerald Isle box to be released was secured jointly on St Patrick’s Day (17th March) by Houston-based Fabergé collectors, James and Korrine Whipkey, and a group of private investors led by Scott H. Weissman. As part of this sale, all proceeds will go to the Correa Family Foundation, a charity supporting children affected by cancer, chaired by Major League Baseball star, Carlos Correa.
The remaining six Emerald Isle experiences boxes will be released at auctions and events in key cities throughout 2021.
Jay Bradley, Founder, The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. commented: “My company shares the same brand vision as Fabergé – to create timeless beauty and a lasting legacy. I am delighted to have set a world record, for the second time in three months and proud to be able to donate the full proceeds of this sale to the Correa Family Foundation, a cause which is very close to my heart as my own daughter was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a rare form cancer, when she was just five-months old. Thanks to the charities like the Correa Family Foundation, she is now a healthy 19-year-old and I am honoured to be able to support the foundation through this contribution.”
Carlos Correa, Chairman of the Correa Family Foundation said, “I’m very thankful to The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. and Jay Bradley to be generous enough to donate the first release of The Emerald Isle to our foundation. This is a huge contribution to the Correa Family Foundation and will change thousands of lives. Seeing a sick child battle cancer and what it does to their families in normal times is heart-breaking, and something that Jay and his family have experienced first-hand but going through it during a global pandemic is truly unimaginable.”
The generous donation will support underserved childhood cancer patients. The charity helps cover daily expenses including food, transportation and rent for over 15,000 children with cancer.
‘The Emerald Isle Collection’ is The Craft Irish Whiskey Co.’s second release, following the launch of The Devil’s Keep – a triple distilled, 29-year-old single malt whiskey – which also set a world record for most expensive inaugural release when it sold at auction in November 2020 for $60,000 USD (approximately £46,000/€51,000 Euros). ‘The Emerald Isle Collection’ now takes the crown as the oldest and rarest triple distilled Irish single malt in the world, comprising a seven-piece custom-made whiskey set which celebrates the ‘Seven Wonders of Ireland’.
Beautifully presented in a dark walnut experience box, each set features a bottle of ultra-rare, single cask, 30-year-old, triple distilled single malt Irish whiskey, accompanied by two exclusive creations from Fabergé – the first-of-its-kind Fabergé Celtic Egg and bespoke 1/1 Fabergé watch. Each collection also includes a humidor with two limited edition and sold out, ultra-rare Cohiba Siglo VI Grand Reserva (2009) cigars. Top rated scoring 100/100, it is the holy grail of cigar collectibles and has increased by over 1,200% in value in the last decade. It also features a gold-plated cigar cutter, gold plated water pipette, pure obsidian whiskey stones, a hip flask with a sample of the Emerald Isle whiskey, and a carafe filled with Irish spring water from the same region where the whiskey was made.
Each experience box has been inspired by the shape of an emerald, and features an illustration of one of the ‘wonders’ of Ireland and its geographical coordinates, making each box one of a kind. Inside each box is the pièce de resistance, the hand-crafted whiskey bottle containing the ‘liquid gold’ – a collector’s item in its own right, design inspired by the Imperial Fabergé Hen Egg from 1885. All bottles of whiskey are accompanied by a bespoke – first of its kind – Fabergé Celtic Egg. Each egg is handcrafted from 18k yellow gold and features Fabergé’s legendary guilloché enamel in a pastel green; the green, white and gold colors of the egg symbolising the Irish flag. Inside, a unique surprise awaits in the form of a rough, uncut Gemfields Zambian emerald. This represents a feature that is truly historical, as it is the first time Fabergé has ever featured an uncut gemstone as the egg’s surprise. The uncut gem can be customized by Fabergé into an exquisite one-of-a-kind piece of Fabergé jewelery.
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