Wonderful antique amber gin bottle with screw on lid dating to the late 1800's On one side is an embossed dragon with a long forked tongue in a castle with a long forked tail and the letters W & A Gilbey LTD. The lid has the same dragon with W & A Gilbey LTD. Walter and Alfred Gilbey were brothers and returned from service in the Crimean War and set up a wine import business in London. Five years later they set up a gin distillery in Camden Town. The dragon-like creature featured on Gilbey's label is a Wyvern, a mythical winged animal often seen in medieval heraldry. The bottle measures 8" high and about 6" wide. The glass has 2 seams on either side of the bottle which really dates this.
