I like old sealed bottles

[waterman]

It's the nature of the beast ~ most sealed wines are thin & consequently broken. I've found several wine seals....seals only. Seals and the base of the bottle are the thickest parts of the bottle and survive. This lovely wine was found with all of it's crudity and a great seal. The date is probably that of the winery....still an early bottle with an open pontil. Early California.

 

[Harry Pristis]

There's something odd about this bottle. Champagne cognac is a real thing, but "champaign" cognac isn't. Champaign is a city in Illinois; it is not an alternate spelling of champagne. The bottle doesn't look old enough to be pontil-scarred. 1795 would be very early in the development of California wine-making, still a church mission operation. It's odd that a California bottler would claim a history back to 1795.

 

[waterman]

Harry...............Here's a few more sealed wines. These are all free blown. Various seals with various logos. All found in river dumps. You might notice a vieux cognac. I've been told that the Vieux meer

ly means old. I believe these are all export wines from various parts of Europe. I really don't believe these to be California bottles, but imports. Much like the stone bottles from England

 

[CanadianBottles]

There's something odd about this bottle. Champagne cognac is a real thing, but "champaign" cognac isn't. Champaign is a city in Illinois; it is not an alternate spelling of champagne. The bottle doesn't look old enough to be pontil-scarred. 1795 would be very early in the development of California wine-making, still a church mission operation. It's odd that a California bottler would claim a history back to 1795.

I suspect this one is European, not American. Here's a bottle with the same spelling and wording from Bordeaux: https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/218987600620347876/
And here's another marked 1825 https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21838/lot/75A/?category=results&length=90&page=1
And another without a date or name https://www.researchgate.net/figure...ign-Cognac-Rivera-Delgado-2009_fig2_301794672

It looks like the spelling was in use fairly recently, here's an ad from 1885 advertising Old Champaign Congnac: https://books.google.ca/books?id=HI...uAKHQgsBBQQ6AEwEnoECBIQAg#v=onepage&q&f=false

Here's a label that uses the spelling

What's interesting to me is that every example of the spelling I've been able to find is specifically marked "Old Champaign Cognac". I haven't been able to find a single example of anything simply marked "Champaign Cognac" - every result which shows up on Google is a modern typo unless it's prefixed by "Old". They also all come from Bordeaux if they have any location listed, and not the Champagne region of France. I'm guessing from this that Old Champaign Cognac was some specific 19th century drink and that the alternate spelling signified something, but I haven't been able to find out specifically what it was.

 

[waterman]

CanadianBottles Thank you for your info.

 

[waterman]

a FEW SEALS

 

[Harry Pristis]

I Googled "old champaign cognac" but didn't find the references you cited I have no trouble accepting this is a French export bottle with a trade name (brand) "Old Champaign." The French are very careful about what gets the "champagne" label. The fact that the seal says "old" instead of "vielle" marks it as an export bottle. It is a brand bottle, rather than a chateau bottle, so I think it dates later in the 1800s.

We find these export bottles in Florida, but I'd not seen this particular brand.

 

[waterman]

Thank you Gentlemen for the information....love those sealed bottles

 

[sandchip]

a FEW SEALS

Great montage!

 

[waterman]

Thanks Sandchip I always value your opinion.