Rare pieces of Aberdeen history rescued from a historic city pub will be sold off at auction today.
A series of brewery-branded mirrors dating back to the 19th Century will go under the hammer in Montrose, with auctioneers expecting interest from bidders across the country.
One in particular has caught the attention of collectors, with links to an Aberdeen alehouse founded in 1790.
The Old Town Brewery was located in the Old Aberdeen High Street, next to King’s College, with enough capacity to process 300 tons of malt.
It produced a number of beers including Imperial Ales, Queen’s Ale, and Queen’s Stout.
One hundred years after its inception, it was purchased by Thomson, Marshall & Co and renamed The Aulton Brewery.
But the significant sums invested in the firm failed to pay off and it ran into trouble before being wound-up by 1907.
Six years later, the majority of the site was demolished to make way for Aberdeen University’s New King’s building.
The company’s heritage has lived on, however, partly through a hand-painted mirror bearing its wordmark and By Royal Warrants logo.
It had pride of place in The Nineteeth Hole, which would later be renamed Campbell’s Bar, on Sinclair Road in Torry for decades.
But the once-popular watering hole, which had been trading since the 1860s, closed its doors for the final time in August 2016.
The mirror, and others featuring the logos of Ushers pale ale – one of Scotland’s most historic beer brands – and Robert Youngers, Edinburgh, were later rescued from the venue.
They will now be sold off at Taylor’s Auction Rooms in Montrose today and are expected to fetch hundreds of pounds each.
Reece Jamieson, a specialist at the auction house, said: “We have already had a large amount of interest in this mirror and the four other pub mirrors in the sale.
“Pub mirrors are extremely well sought after by pub memorabilia and social history collectors.
“The Aberdeen mirror and the two Edinburgh mirrors will bring in a large and varied interest from all over Scotland and the UK.”
