Finding $87,000 while wandering about the riverbank fishing caused a stir a couple of months ago. In the US that kind of money wears felt soles – and heisting the equivalent in tackle would only take a couple of rolls of duct tape and a couple of unwary, yet well appointed,  fly fishermen …

… but if you want priceless, you’ll roll your eyes over the latest find, a couple cases of Scotch Whiskey left under one of the huts abandoned by Ernest Shackleton, on one of his ill fated Antarctic expeditions.

Polar explorers of that era relied on their alcohol of choice to help them and their crews through the long Antarctic nights and insomnia-inducing days. And Shackleton knew a thing or two about being well prepared for an adventure. On a later trip to the continent he kept all 28 members of his crew alive during 15 harrowing months after their ship got marooned in and then slowly devoured by ice. So it’s no surprise that he brought 25 crates of Scotch with him when he set off on an expedition to the South Pole in 1907.

Left undiscovered in the ice for over 100 years – found in 2006 by curators, who are about to drill the crates loose from their icy tomb.

While Christie’s, Sotheby’s, or EBay come to mind – you’ll have to drink it all in Antartica:

An international treaty dictates that the crates, and any intact bottles that are inside, remain in Antarctica unless they need to be taken off the continent for conservation reasons.

… which really shouldn’t be much problem, considering. Just shake the ice cubes out of your mustache if you need to freshen that glass a wee bit.

Tags: Ernest Shackleton, Scotch Whisky, ebay, scotch on the rocks, literally