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Christie's and the 'fake' vintage wine
Summary with new information since yesterday, from articles in English
Nine days before Christmas on a cold New York afternoon in 1988, a well-dressed Englishman arrived at a luxurious Fifth Avenue apartment with what looked like a normal suitcase .
Hamilton, a wine dealer who runs Farr Vintners, Britain's premier trader in rare and antique wines, was carrying three of the most expensive bottles of wine ever to be sold, each one worth more than $100,000 .
Week the US Justice Department, working with the FBI, announced that the bottles were at the centre of an investigation into the international global trade in vintage wine after allegations of fraud .
In particular, the investigation will examine Christie's relationship with a controversial German wine merchant, Harry Rodenstock , a former pop promoter who has a reputation for unearthing rare vintage wines that sell for huge sums .
1985, Christie's sold one of Rodenstock's wine to the American billionaire Malcolm Forbes for the world record price of $105,000 .
Rodenstock said that the bottle, which had the initials Th.J engraved on it, had been discovered in a cellar in Paris .
Until now, the world of rare wines has been a secretive one in which wealthy individuals pay tens of thousands of pounds for a single bottle .
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Story keywords
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Wine, Weissman, christie, rodenstock, stores |
Source articles
- Never Mind the Bordeaux (nytimes.com, 03/11/2007, 1209 words)
- Los Angeles Times (L.A. Times, 03/11/2007, 1131 words)
- Trading it all in for the grape life (L.A. Times, 03/11/2007, 1016 words)
- Christie's and the 'fake' vintage wine (observer.guardian.co.uk, 03/11/2007, 883 words)
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blaster@cs.columbia.edu
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