A 157-year-old whisky sold for more than $59,200 in Glasgow on Friday, making it possibly the most expensive Scotch ever auctioned in the world.

The Bowmore single malt, which was bottled in 1850, was sold at McTear's auctioneers in Scotland for 29,400 pounds to an anonymous telephone bidder, the Agence France-Presse reported.

Bowmore, who had announced prior to the auction that it wanted to return the bottle to display it at the distillery on the island of Islay, off the west coast of Scotland, failed to match the competitor's offer.

The price was higher than the pre-sale estimate of between 15,000 and 20,000 pounds ($30,580 to $40,773). The bottle of Scotch bottle, the oldest known bottle of Bowmore, commanded the high price despite the bottle's cork dropping into the whisky, an auction spokesman said.

Twin brothers William and James Mutter operated the distillery from the 1850s until the early 1890s when Bowmore Distillery Company Limited was formed.

The bottle was presented to William Mutter in 1851 at the time of him giving up his share of the distillery and had remained in the family for generations.

In 2005, a businessman paid 32,000 pounds for a 1942 bottle of Dalmore 62 Single Highland Malt Scotch Whisky.

A bottle of Glenavon Special Liqueur Whisky from the 1850s sold at auction in London for 14,850 pounds last year.