Expert: Paul Wagner - 2/14/2011

Question
I have on hand two bottles of Napoleon Chose Courvoisier Cognac.  They are both 1 gallon bottles that came in wood crates.  It appears from my research that the bottles are from the 1950's or 1960's (based on the bottle labels).  It also appears that they came with canons that the bottles were displayed with but I don't have those.  Lastly, from years of storage, the seals have slightly leaked. Can you please tell me anything you can about them and what they might sell for at auction?

Answer
Hi Lorie

Distilled spirits like this are so high in alcohol that they don't change much in the bottle, for better or worse.  The good news is that this should be perfectly good to drink.  The bad news is that it won't have appreciated in value the way some fine wines do.  This is worth just about as much as a current bottling of the same stuff.

You might try contacting the guys at antiquebottles.com  They are very nice people, and it's possible the that bottle itself will have more value than the liquid inside.  They're the ones who could tell you that.   But the cannon would add value to the package, I am sure.

Sorry that I can't give you more exciting news.

Paul Wagner