A half-bottle of Scotch whisky thought to be about 150 years old sold for 14,750 pounds ($28,700) at auction in London, beating the top presale estimate of 10,000 pounds by almost 50 percent.

The Glenavon Special Liqueur Whisky, bottled on Speyside in northeast Scotland some time between 1851 and 1858, may be the oldest Scotch whisky in the world, according to Bonhams. The bottle, which was bought by an unidentified buyer yesterday, contains 14 fluid ounces, slightly more than a modern half- bottle.

“There is an increasing interest in whiskies that are a bit different,'’ Richard Harvey, head of European wine sales at auctioneers Bonhams, said in an interview. “I think it is a record for that size of bottle.'’

The prices that collectors are willing to pay for Scotch malt whisky have risen. In September 2005, an anonymous Asian buyer paid 70 million South Korean won ($75,200) for the last bottle of 1926 Macallan malt whisky, a record for a public auction. A bottle of 60-year-old Macallan fetched a then-record 20,150 pounds in 2002.

The Glenavon whisky may date back to before 1851 because there are no records of the distillery before then, Harvey said. It was sold by a Northern Ireland woman whose family owned the bottle for at least three generations, he said.

Posted: 11|30|06 at 9:24 am. Filed under: Auction News.