Expert: Paul Wagner - 1/9/2009

Question
I have had a bottle(unopened and boxed) of courvoisier
Napoleon old liqueur cognac No 0B4363 for about 30 years
Could you please give me some idea of value.

Answer
HI Brian

Distilled spirits lkike this really only develop and improve with age in the barrel, not the bottle.  They are so high in alcohol that once they are bottled they don't change much, for better or worse, the way wines do. That means they don't change much in value, either.

With that in mind, your bottle is probably worth more or less what a current bottling of the same product is: about $50.  Some of the older bottles have a collectible character--but these are usually scotch or bourbon bottles, not cognacs.

Sorry that I don't have more exciting news.

Paul Wagner