charity water

Rarest Macallan Bottle Fetches Record $460,000 At Sotheby's Auction

by Michael B. Dougherty (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions

A bottle of Macallan 64-year-old scotch, housed within a Lalique crystal decanter, far exceeded its pre-sale estimate of $100,000-with a winning bid of $460,000-at Sotheby's in New York, this week.

With all proceeds of the sale going to benefit charity: water, the one-of-a-kind bottle, made by Lalique using the cire perdue ("lost wax") method, did a multi-city charity tour before the final event in New York. Scott Harrison, founder of charity: water, spoke before the auction of the idealism behind his organization and the impact that the evening's sale would have on helping to bring clean water to communities in developing countries. He then handed the microphone off to Sotheby's Head of Wine in the US and Asia, Jamie Ritchie, to perform the auctioneer duties.

A gentleman in the crowd eagerly placed the opening bid, sparking a cascading ping-pong of responses from around the room. Bidding quickly passed the $300,000 mark, with phone bidders setting the tone, outpacing most on-hand. Ritchie kept the mood light, cracking an "Only $5?!" joke when a Sotheby's rep asked if he would accept an increase of $5,000 from a potential buyer on the phone. Reminding everyone that the evening's sale would support a good cause, Ritchie broke the $400,000 barrier to a delighted response of the crowd. With everyone's mind wondering if the lot would reach the half-million mark, bidding slowed around $450,000 before finally settling on $460,000. Giving everyone one last chance, Ritchie brought the gavel down to mark the record sale, which went to an anonymous US bidder.

Tags: auctions, charity water, lalique, macallan, new york city, scotch, sothebys, whisky

charity: water

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Charity

charity: water is a fundraising effort that was set up by former NYC clue promoter, Scott Harrison. Through the proceeds from the sale of bottled spring water priced at $20 each, each labeled with a custom logo to mark their purpose, the charity will bring clean, sustainable water sources to people in Africa. For every 100 bottles of water sold, one well will be built. And they will keep building wells as long as the water is being sold and there is money to do so.

It is part of a greater charity: movement, which organizes campaigns to bring attention to issues from sanitation to hunger to AIDS and to raise funds to do something about them by "restoring faith in low-level donations" from compassionate citizens. They prove that "even small gifts can have great impact" by using 100% of the proceeds from each of their projects for their causes.

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Tags: africa, charity, charity water, CharityWater, water