Rare Welsh whisky bottles smash estimates

Two bottles of rare Welsh whisky dating to around 1900 have sold for a combined total of £14,500 ($18,502).

The auction of fine spirits and cigars was held at Peter Francis Auctioneers in Carmarthen last month.


The Welsh Whisky Distillery Company at Gwynedd closed down in the early 20th century 

Each was offered as a separate lot, along with a selection of memorabilia from the Welsh Whisky Distillery Company.

The distillery was founded in Gwynedd in 1889 but closed in the early 20th century. It was later used as a prison camp, for soldiers captured in the first world war and Irish revolutionaries during the 1916 Easter Rising.

Both bottles were valued at £2,000 ($2,552) but more than tripled their estimates to sell for £7,200 ($9,187) and £7,300 ($9,315).

There is a history of whisky production in Wales, but all of the distilleries were closed by the early 1900s.  

That changed with the opening of the acclaimed Penderyn distillery in 2004.

The materials accompanying the bottles range from posters and photographs to a series of letters relating to a royal visit to South Wales in 1969.

Auctioneer Charles Hampshire told the BBC following the sale: "One is going back near the distillery, the other I'm not so sure about, so it's a nice finish, particularly for one of them."

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