Duke of Wellington's sherry sells for £1,500

The sherry dates back to the reign of Queen Victoria, and perhaps some of Abraham Lincoln's presidency

A bottle of sherry owned by the first Duke of Wellington has been sold for just over £1,500 at auction.

The 170-year-old tipple was bottled in the duke's home - Apsley House, London - and bought by someone in the UK on Thursday.

It fetched £1,527, including fees, more than double its estimate of £700.

The duke, who defeated Napoleon and went on to be prime minister, had never opened it before he died in 1852.

Apsley House, on London's Hyde Park Corner is now a museum

The fortified wine is still drinkable, even though it is so old.

Arthur Wellesley was given the title of the Duke of Wellington before playing a key role in defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and ending the Napoleonic Wars.

As a reward for his military success, Parliament gave him £700,000 to build a new "Waterloo Palace" but, instead of constructing a new building, he put in a £40,000 bid to buy Apsley House.

The Duke of Wellington

The sherry was bought in 1977 at a Christie's sale of wines from the property and has been in a Hampshire cellar since.