£5,000 bottles saved from the bin!

Andover, Hampshire UK
A set of wine bottles dating back over 200 years, have sold at auction for nearly £5,000. Veronica Smith discovered the 11 bottles on top of a wardrobe when she was clearing her relatives bungalow after his death. Mrs Smith had assumed they were worth nothing and put them on a windowsill ready for recycling. Luckily an auctioneer who had come to carry out a probate valuation of Mr Cowlard's possessions realised they were valuable.

They were split into two lots and sold last week by auctioneers Woolley and Wallis in Salisbury, Wiltshire, for £3,000 and £1,600. Clare Durham, of Woolley and Wallis, said, "One of the bottles is dated 1788 and the others are from the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. The bottle market is strong at the moment and there is always interest in sealed bottles with monograms or initials on them. Many of the bottles were Cornish, which is also popular."