Expert: Paul Wagner - 3/19/2007

Question
Could you help me to place a value on my 1956 crown royal no bag or box. Also have a haig and haig pinch, no idea on year all I have is the # on the red tax tag. How do I find out about my bottles if i dont have the orange tag but have the red tag #? Thanks

Answer
Hi Robert

Because distilled spirits are very high in alcohol, they generally do not improve with age in the bottle the way wine does.  That means that your bottles won't have appreciated a great deal in value, either.  I would estimate that these would sell to bottle collectors for perhaps $100 for the Crown Royal--but ironically, you could get more money for some of the merchandising materials from that era.  

As for researching the value, you can always try some of the bottle collector websites:

http://www.antiquebottles.com/

or

http://www.fohbc.com/

Sorry that I can't bring you better news.  

Paul Wagner