Expert: Paul Wagner - 3/21/2007

Question
Hi Paul,
Is the imprinted number on tax seals like patent numbers in that they can give an approximate date of manufacture?
I have a number on a bottle of Metaxa which is: 210017781. Any ideas?  Thanks a mil!
Erica Rawlings

Answer
Hi Erica

These numbers are issued when the product is imported, not when it is manufactured, so there would be that discrepancy at any rate.  But these numbers are like a bottling code--they are intentionally made obscure, because the producers don't like consumers trying to use them to identify one bottle as being from a "better lot" that another.  

With that in mind, there are a couple of options with this number.  One of them is that the sealed was printed around the end of July of 2001.  Another is from late June of 1981.  And just possibly, but not very likely, that it comes from October of 1977.  

Sorry I can be of more help...but it is a SECRET code, after all.  

By the way, if this really is an old bottle, it probably won't have appreciated much in value.  Distilled spirits, unlike wines, are very high in alcohol.  That means they don't really change in the bottle much.  But it also means that they almost never go bad.  If you have a special friend, this might be something to open up on a special occasion and celebrate the fact that you are still friends after all these years.

Paul Wagner