Oban Crown Hotel - Circa 1900

Old Oban Whisky. Crown Hotel Oban. William G. Macgillivray. Bottled circa 1900. Typical late 19th, early 20th century three piece molded glass with natural inclusions. Driven cork with branded foil seal. No capacity or strength stated although equal to 75cl. The whisky inside remains clear with natural sediment and no signs of separation or cloudiness. As you can imagine with such an old bottle the cork has aged and shows visible signs of shrinkage. While every effort will be made to ship this bottle with the greatest possible level of care and protection, we cannot guarantee it will not leak in transit and we therefore recommend direct collection of this lot if possible. Please bear this in mind when bidding. T

One of, if not the greatest and most fascinating bottles of whisky we've ever had the pleasure of auctioning. We collected this bottle from an elderly lady in West Brom. This bottle along with a 1940s Blair Athol was part of an estate the vendor inherited many years ago. Both bottles have been sat in a side cabinet ever since.

Established in 1793 Oban is the only surviving distillery in the Oban area. Today Oban is renowned for being part of the Classic Malt Selection whilst older bottlings are few and far between with the distinct diamond shaped 12 year old from the 1970s springing to mind.

Reminiscing and the only other bottle remotely close to this era is the Old Mull Blend from 1917 we auctioned in December 2016. The reason why I mention this example is because Oban is known as one of the main malt contributors for Old Mull.

The hotel mentioned on the label is located in the heart of Oban and is approximately half a mile from the distillery. The hotel now trades under the name Kelvin Hotel. The hotel is a grade B listed building and is one of the oldest and most original in the 19th century planned town. From our research the Scottish architect who made alterations to the hotel in 1896 was James Begg. This relates to when we believe the whisky was bottled.

The bottle itself is so original with its beautiful imperfections. To say this bottle is over a century old and the fact it's survived two World Wars is incredible and unbelievable. Whoever wins this bottle will certainly be sat on a serious piece of Scottish liquid history. Truthfully it deserves spotlight in a museum. One of a kind and once in a lifetime.