An 81-year-old bottle of Scotch was auctioned at New York's first liquor auction since Prohibition and was sold for $54,000.

The auction was held at Christie's sale of wines and spirits and an anonymous collector bought the pricey potable on Saturday.

The top lot, which went for $102,000 was a collection of 729 bottles of whiskey and the auction sold a total of $304,800 worth of rare wines and liquors.

The 81-year-old scotch was distilled in 1926 at Macallan, Scotland and rebottled in 2002.

The state of New York did not allow auctions of spirits and wines until this year and the Prohibition lasted from 1920 to 1933.