Whisky dating back to 1900 could fetch £3,000 at auction

Two bottles of Welsh whisky dating back almost 120 years could fetch £3,000 each when they are put up for auction.

The Welsh Whisky Distillery Company bottles are being auctioned online from Thursday until 5 December by Peter Francis Auctioneers in Carmarthen.

The whisky was bought by a wine merchant in Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, in the 1960s for £5 each.

Auctioneer Charles Hampshire said: "It's such a rare thing - the only other ones we know of are on display."

The Welsh Whisky Distillery Company was founded in Frongoch, Bala, Gwynedd in 1889 but closed in the early 20th Century.

The distillery became a World War One prison camp - and more famously, an internment camp after the Easter Rising in the Republic of Ireland.

The bottles, dating back to about 1900, will go up in two separate lots, each with supporting paperwork.

Mr Hampshire said another bottle of the same whisky was auctioned in Cardiff in 2001 and is on show at Penderyn Distillery. There is another at Cardiff's St Fagans National History Museum.

"I'd be very surprised if there are any others around - it's going to be interesting," he added.

The current owners, whose father bought the whisky, live in south Wales and Mr Hampshire said the person the merchant acquired them from had the bottles in their family since 1914.

"I've had a lot of interest over the past four or five days. The final figure, from what I've been able to glean, could be between £2,000-£3,000 each," said Mr Hampshire.

Some of the old distillery buildings - which became an Irish internment camp