So I met someone who's coworkers mom, has two pre-pro bottles. One is an Old Hermitage 15 year rye 1888/1903. The other is a bottle of Swastika whiskey, from the back label (only pic I have), says it was barreled in 1910 by/for (cant make out the label) George M Reynolds. The pictures I'm working with are really bad. Can't even tell if either are drinkable. I told the guy that I'd "sell" the bottles for her and he sent me the only pictures he had.
By "sell" I mean buy for my own collection. The last bottle of pre-pro I had was a bottle of Overholt bottled in 1916. It was bad. Smelled like paint thinner. I shed a tear while I poured it down the drain. That was over a year ago and now I have a chance for redemption!
I've done a bunch of research so far. Found a lot of cool stuff on W. A. Gaines and Co but I havent found anything like WHO actually made this juice.
The Swastika whiskey is very intriguing. I've tried to look up a George M Reynolds and aside from a book a George M Reynolds wrote (Machine Politics in New Orleans, 1897-1926), I cant find anything else on this person around that timeline. Was he the master distiller at the Frankfort Distilling Co in 1910? Is he someone of bourbon lore?
I'm specifically asking for a price point. What should I pay for these bottles? I'm used to estate sale prices and I've purchased some bottles off of an individual before but I was totally ripped off. Paid way more than they were worth. I had the bourbon lust, hard. Any info will be appreciated.
This whole situation is wild to me because Ive never had bottles fall into my lap before. Usually works out to 40 hours of hunting per bottle I find. So this is pretty nice, no effort whatsoever!
http://imgur.com/a/orKaj
I couldnt upload the photos here because of the pixels or something
Cheers!