Expert: Paul Wagner - 1/8/2012

Question
I have 10 vintage 1/10 pint bottles that my parents gave me. There are 3 sealed Hueblein margarita cocktails, 1 sealed Heublein extra dry martini, 3 sealed but unopened Heublein vodka martini cocktails, 1 sealed Arrow sloe gin, and 2, one sealed and one opened, Johnnie Walker Red Lables. I noticed that the pawn shop by my house sells these, and would like to take them there since I don't collect these nor do they have any importance to our family. I was wondering if you knew how much they were worth or if any are rare? I don't tend to trust the opinion of the pawn brokers. Unfortunately I can't find any years, and I am also doing this off of my phone so I can't upload pics, but if someone could just give me there best guess, that would be great. Thank you.

Answer
HI Kristina

I don't have great news for you.  These may be valuable to an occasional collector, but I don't think a pawn shop will pay you much money for them.  You would be better off just trying to sell them on ebay.  Because they are small samples, and not intended for consumptions, I think they might let you do that.

That way you would get the top bid from the market--my guess is that it will be well less than $10 each.  

It is illegal for private individuals to sell alcoholic beverages in the USA--but it's also illegal for pawnshops to do so without a license.  These are clearly considered toys, not real drinks.

Hope that helps.

Paul Wagner