Dutch collector Bay Van der Bunt is a passionate collector of fine cognacs who is now ready to sell his impressive collection of approximately 5,000 unopened bottles of old spirits. His treasure is worth a whopping £5 million (about $7.89 million), and it includes the most expensive bottle of cognac in the world.
It is a six-liter Jeroboam hand-blown bottle containing a fine cognac from 1795. The liquor was made in Brugerolle, and it is said to have accompanied Napoleon Bonaparte as he travelled across Europe to conquer it territory by territory. When Mr. Van der Bunt bought it back in 1990 from a Chicago collector, he paid £20,000 for the bottle, which is nothing compared to its value today: £114,500 (approx. $180,700).
The collection also includes a 1789 Courvoisier & Curlier made from grapes collected in the year when the famous French Revolution started. Its price is £39,000 (about $61,550). Mr. Van der Bunt hopes that he will find a buyer who is also a collector, and who will appreciate the bottles enough not to open and drink them. Such an act would be “Just barbaric”, as he puts it.
