Discovering Grappa with Jacopo Poli.
What is the value of a vintage Grappa?
What’s the value of the bottle that I found in my grandfather’s cellar?
This is one of the most frequent requests we receive at the Grappa Museum.
The value of a bottle depends on its age, we must then try to understand when it was produced.
The only way to do that is checking if there is an alluminium seal which prooves that the bottle is quite antique, as the vintage rarely appears on the label.
Among various cases, this is one of the few displaying a little mark indicating the year 1933, and it was in fact in November 1933, during the Fascist regime, that it became mandatory to tie an alluminium seal around the cap with a metal thread or a twine.
The Savoy coat of arms surrounded by the Fascist emblems is impressed in rilief on this seal, as a symbol of the Fascist regime.
With the downfall of the regime, the Fascist emblems were removed and then when the Italian Republic was born the alluminium seal furtherly changed by adding a woman profile, the so-called “Testa di donna” (head of a woman) seal, or the “Stella” seal, as the star was a symbol of the Italian Republic.
The alluminium seals remained in effect until 1952 and then they coexisted up to 1959 along with the paper seals, which are still in use today in order to proove the duty payment, that is the tax weighing on alcohol production.
Therefore it’s only the bottles of Grappa with an alluminium seal to have a collection value, being surely produced between 1933 and 1952, and eventually up to 1959.
Buona Grappa everyone.
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