Recycle Hanyu Yuzuru Playing Card Series King of Clubs
Regular price $999,999.00(Get a quote now)
King of Clubs: The least seen of the four Kings at auction
In the Hanyu Card Series, the King is the highest-ranking card of each suit; the King of Clubs is also the one with the fewest public auction records among the four Kings. It is mostly sold as part of a complete set, and individual public sales are rare. Therefore, its private transaction value is often higher than the publicly recorded figures, and the price range fluctuates more significantly. In other words, if you have a King of Clubs, you need to find an expert buyer to determine its true value.
King of Clubs Specifications and Positioning
| Item | Characteristics of this card |
| Card Rank / Suit | King (Clubs) |
| Distillation Year | Mostly 1986 for the series (as indicated on the bottle) |
| Cask Description | hogshead / refill cask, mostly single cask, cask strength |
| Rarity Level | Extremely rare |
| Series Position | King is the highest rank of the four suits, commanding the highest prices for both single cards and full sets, and has a high exposure rate at international auctions. |
The Inherent Rarity of the Card Series
The Card Series was spearheaded by Ichiro Akuto, who bottled the last batch of raw spirits from the Hanyu distillery before its closure, as single casks. The entire series corresponds to 54 playing cards with 54 wooden casks, released in batches starting from 2005 and completed in 2014; each card has a unique cask number and individual ABV, inherently precluding the possibility of "restocking the same item."
This rarity is also reflected in the open market: a complete Card Series was hammered at HK$7,192,000 at Bonhams Hong Kong in 2019, setting a new auction record for Japanese whisky at the time, and remains one of the most frequently cited transaction points in the industry. The King, at the top of the series, is one of the key cards that supports this figure.
Key Factors Affecting the Buy-Back Price of the King of Clubs
The King of Clubs label features a club throne design as its main visual. When authenticating, the crown's shadow and the veins of the club leaves are key focal points, as counterfeits often show blurry printing in the leaf veins. In addition to authenticity, the condition also determines the valuation, and we assess it based on the following criteria:
| Assessment Item | Optimal Condition | Common Deductions |
| Throne Main Visual | Crown shadow, leaf veins clear and distinct. | Leaf veins blurry, lacking definition. |
| Fill Level | Maintained at the neck of the bottle. | Dropped below the shoulder. |
| Cork | Healthy structure, no leakage. | Softened, previous leakage. |
