Expert: Paul Wagner - 4/28/2008

Question
QUESTION: Hi Paul,
I have a bottle of Cherry Trocadero Cordial Superior Quality that was manufactured by Ramon Del Collado P.O. Box 907, Havanna. Other information on the lable says that it was imported by R.H. Macy & Co. Inc. New York, Produce of Cuba; Made from a selection of the best fruits; it is 4/5 quart,72 proof,25.6 oz, 36 sall.  There is a logo with the letters RC (intertwined) in a red shield on the top front of the label.  The bottle is dark brown and has a cream colored label.  There is a green security strip (stamp/seal with designs like a dollar bill) over the top of the bottle.  It says
Fabricacion y consumo
Empresmo de 35,000,000
Licores
There are a few other words on this label (Sene C and No 6.
It also says una bottela 15 centavos.  The other side of this seal has a number stamped (51572633).
The back of the bottle has a cream colored strip about 1" x 5" that says Fabricado por Cia. Unida de Vinos y Licores, S.A.  Almendares y Bruzon.  Habana, Cuba.  The bottle is about 10" high with a 3" neck.  The body of the bottle is flat on the front and back, rounded on the sides...it goes from about 4" wide right below the neck to a little less than 3" wide at the base.
The only other information that is on the bottle is a handwritten, underlined 9/2L.  I have no idea what that means(at first I thought that it said 9/26).
Anything that you know about this bottle would be appreciated!  Thank you.  Janet


ANSWER: HI Janet

What fun!  This is a bottle of sweet Cherry cordial (probably cherry juice, sugar, and rum) from the pre-Castro days of Cuba.  That means before 1959!  Distilled spirits and cordials like this don't change much with age--the alcohol level is too high--so they don't appreciate in value the way some fine wines do.  But this should still be pretty good to drink, if you want to do that.

If I were you, though, I would check with the guys at antiquebottles.com.  WHile the liqueur inside isn't worth very much money, the bottle might be a bit of a curiosity for them--and only they can tell you how much it might be worth.

As an old cordial, I doubt that you could get much more than $25 for this...but it's a great story!

Hope that helps.

Paul Wagner

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Is there any way to narrow down the date?  Does the "una bottela 15 centavos" help to date the bottle?  Does the 8 digit number mean anything? Do you know whether there was a period of time that Macy's sold liquor?  Thank you so much for answering all of my questions.  I will have more on a few other bottles later!   Janet

Answer
HI Janet

Macy's was actually the first store to get a liquor license in the city of New York after Prohibition---and that was in 1934.  So we have narrowed down the window a bit--it has to be between 1934 and 1959.  

I wish I knew more about the prices of drinks in those days, but I really don't.  And that 8 digit number is always some kind of code--but every producer has a different code...and you never know which digits to leave out.  It could be from 1951, or from the first of May of 1957...those are the only two dates that make sense to me from those numbers.

Hope that helps.

I hope your other bottles are easier! grin.

Paul Wagner