Sold for A$110
Border Maid / 1877 on applied seal. Base embossing: W. Shiels & Co / Leith Wine Applied Seal 26 oz. Black glass, applied seal. 285 mm. 1870s
Very Good. There are patches of stain running in a series of lines down the bottle, as if it had been laying in a pile of bottles, possibly cellared for decades? There is a milky airbubble on the right side. There is an interesting history with possible Australian links on this bottle. It would appear is was made for William Shiels & Co, wine merchants of Constitution Street, Leith. It is listed in “Antique Glass Bottles” by Willy Van den Bossche on page 84, suggesting that Border Maid was the brand name of the whisky? Further research by the Scottish National Museum suggests a different story. In 1877 a schooner called “Border Maid” left Leith for Sydney, it is possible that whisky was either bottled for consumption during the voyage or for sale in Australia. The research will be included with the bottle for the winning bidder, whatever the origins, this is a nice example of an early black glass seal bottle. Grade: 7.4 Estimate: $150 - 200
