Whisky bottle sells for £29,400

The Bowmore single malt whisky which fetched almost £30,000

A bottle of whisky has sold for almost £30,000 at auction in Glasgow.

The Bowmore single malt whisky, believed to have been bottled on Islay about 1850, sold to an anonymous bidder at McTear's auctioneers.

It is the oldest bottle of Bowmore known to be in existence and fetched £29,400 for its former owner.

The recommended price was £20,000. Morrison Bowmore Distillers Ltd lost out in its attempt to return the bottle to its "true spiritual home".

The hand blown pale green glass bottle and original cardboard carton in which it has been stored had been in good condition until one week before the sale.

The delicate driven cork had dropped from the neck of the bottle into the whisky itself, leaving this extremely rare bottle requiring some renovation for the purchaser.

Glen Moore, Bowmore brand director, said: "We'd known about the sale of the Mutter bottle for some time and had our heart set on bringing it back to its true spiritual home.

"We bid beyond the value limit we had set ourselves but unfortunately the winning bidder went beyond that.

"There are some serious whisky collectors around the world."