Research about a Pre WW2 Cognac Des Héritiers

Very nice. Here comes a Grande Champagne Des Heritiers, a product of France of course, a Grande Champagne Des Hertiers category No 1. And there is even a nice letter about the history of this cognac.

Distilled and bottled in Cognac, France for Berry Bros& Co, established in the XVII century.

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Heritier Cognac Grande Champagne

The label reads: St James St, London s.w.1  Imported By the Buckingham Corporation New York City. Sole selling agents for the United States of America.

Our reader received the 2 bottles from a friend that was having him 2help her clean out her cellar.

They came from her father’s estate as the family is quite well off  and was later to find out that the said father was in some banking business or such with the Brown Bros.

Grand Champgane Des Heritiers

The reader has a letter of contact and research from a person who lives in London. He was able to expand the history of this cognac, so here is the letter:

“Dear Sir,

Many thanks for the photos.

Now what can I tell you about your bottles? If I start with some back story. Mr. Brown does ring a bell with us. Mr. Brown was in fact named Reginald Francis. When he joined the company after WW1 he was told by Francis Berry, that they coundn’t cope with two Francises or two Reggies (Reggie Berry was also working for the company at the time) and that henceforth he would be Brown.

Brown ran our London shop along with a chap named Strange and so at Berrys’ the period  between the wars are known as the Strange & Brown period. Now Brown, like myself, was only ever an emloyee of the company, never a shareholder. Brown does tie in with your bottles as I think they are pre WW2 as they appear to have pre war tax strips.

The Cognac itself comes from the Héritiers estate, near Segonzac just east of Cognac itself, which is now part of Cognac Frapin. As a company we have been buying Cognac from Héritiers and Frapin for well over 100 years. They still do make very good Cognac indeed.

Grande Champagne Des Heritiers

As for a value, that is the hardest part. The problems in giving a value stem from the fact that the Cognac itself does not have a vintage, not a bad thing just make it harder to pin point. I’ve tried finding it on the internet, but with no joy.

This is a good and bad thing. All I can go on is what we woud be selling them for in our shop. Based on that I would suggest a certain auction value of around $600 – $800. I’m not sure where you are based, but I would strongly suggest you take the bottles of the photos to one of the major auction houses, such as Christies or Sothebys, who should be able to shed more light.

The best thing to do with the bottles is of course dring the Cognac. It will be very good indeed.

Kind regards”

What a fantastic story so far.

If you have any ideas about those bottles, or if you are intersted in purchasing the bottles from the owner, please comment. Thank you.