1811/​3308

1 bt. Shipwreck Wine B/C (us). Shipwreck wine from Vliegend Hert. Onion bottle contents original wine from before 1735.

The bottle originates from the wreck of the Dutch merchant vessel “Vliegend Hert”, which sank off the coast of the Netherlands in 1735. The bottle was salvaged together with several other bottles from the wreck in 1981. The cargo consisted of several hundred bottles, but most of them had broken into pieces or had been leaking during their stay at the bottom of the sea. Only a few survived with their original content intact. Most of the bottles are located at different Dutch museums, but this example has been on private hands since it was salvaged.

The many years that the bottle spent under the water have left their mark in the shape of the mother of pearl that covers the old “onion bottle” – a term used for a wine bottle from this period.

It cannot be determined with any certainty which wine or type of wine is inside the bottle, but the Dutch ran trade routes from Portugal where both Port and Madeira were exported from. However, many Moselle wines were also shipped from the Dutch coasts.

The exact age cannot be determined more precisely than that the wine is from before 1735.

After the bottle was salvaged in 1981, it was initially in a collector's ownership and stored with other rare wines. It has been sold twice since then, in 2013 and 2016, before ending up here at Bruun Rasmussen. Under each ownership, the bottle has been stored in a dark and cool environment.

A future owner will most likely become the owner of one of the world's oldest bottles of wine.

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Abbreviations
Auction

Fine and rare wines, 18 March 2018

Category
Estimate

40,000–50,000 DKK

Price realised

Not sold

2 bids

When Bidder Bid
27,000 DKK
26,000 DKK