| Abstract: |
Twenty-five years ago, Michael Broadbent, then wine department director at the venerable London auction house Christie's, pounded down his gavel and sold the most expensive bottle of wine ever auctioned after less than two minutes of bidding. It was a small hand-blown bottle with "Lafitte 1787" and "Th. J." engraved on the glass and it brought in more than $155,000. This was the first of the so-called Jefferson Bordeauxs, a collection of wines that German dealer Hardy Rodenstock claimed were found in a walled-up cellar in Paris. Both Rodenstock and the Christie's catalog suggested that the evidence was overwhelming that this wine had been ordered for Thomas Jefferson. |
