![]() ![]() “The first thing is the ‘wow factor,' you're looking at the next one and the next one, but then you gradually start noticing the subtle differences. (Photo courtesy of Bonhams Hong Kong)Dazzling as the collection was, when others take in the grandeur of the forest, Graham-Yooll is carefully checking out the trees. The label peels from a fake Macallan at Bonhams Hong Kong. “As well as the bottles, there were books on spirits and other collected whisky paraphernalia.” “The place was full of stuff,” Graham-Yooll emphasizes. The collection ran the full gamut of extraordinary single malt whiskies, blends, and other rare spirits. Stepping over the threshold, the most extraordinary panoramic collection of whisky greeted her: around 500 bottles on display, and even more bottles in boxes stacked on the floor. That day, Graham-Yooll came on the pretense of negotiating a private sale of some bottles. Inside the Forger's LairWhen Graham-Yooll made her first house call to the collector's tiny rented apartment in Finchley, a neighborhood best known as Margaret Thatcher's parliamentary constituency and the birthplace of pop singer George Michael, the seller had no reason to be suspicious. So we had already got to know him, or thought we knew him, at the stage when we became suspicious.” With every new batch of whisky, the number of fakes increased. ![]() My colleagues visited his apartment a few times to collect bottles and build up a good client relationship. “He sent in another batch, we spotted a couple of fakes again, then funnily enough, there were more and more. How the Whisky Industry Combats FakesMost collectors are shocked, even angered to discover there is a bogus whisky among their gems, but this particular client showed little emotion. It's her job to reject the bottle and inform the consigner, usually acknowledging it as a simple case of bad luck. “If you're a prolific collector, you can accidentally end up with a fake,” she says. “They seemed fine, but I spotted a fake among them and explained that to him.” One fake isn't enough to set off any alarms. This guy came out of the blue with a perfect collection.”Graham-Yooll researches, examines, and documents all the whiskies she receives before auction, and the collector's first tranche of 30 or so eclectic whiskies seemed to pass muster. “He was someone we had never come across before. Most new clients want to meet at the auction house, in person, but this caller claimed to be a big collector, the owner of a large whisky and spirits collection, and he presented a certain degree of swagger. “A call like that is really odd in itself,” explains Graham-Yooll. A Cool Customer‘Can you come 'round here and collect some bottles?' asked the new customer over the phone. ![]() With two decades in the spirits trade, she has developed a sixth sense for forgeries. In her line of work, some degree of paranoia is an advantage all the better to ferret out fake whiskies hiding among the genuine articles. Kurniawan, an infamous wine counterfeiter, famously duped well-heeled collectors and highly regarded auction houses with his counterfeit Burgundy and Bordeaux until his arrest in 2012.While others revel in the presence of rare whisky, Graham-Yooll's job is to eye each bottle with suspicion. As we've discovered since his arrest, this was a huge crime,” says Graham-Yooll. The one thing collectors and auctioneers are left to wonder: is this just the tip of the iceberg?“He was the Rudy Kurniawan of whisky and spirits. The director of Whisky.Auction in London was instrumental in exposing a forger's scheme to defraud whisky collectors of tens of thousands of dollars. We found him, and we've taken him out,” says Isabel Graham-Yooll with ice-cool composure. "There was a fraudster within the Scotch whisky community. ![]()
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