Meanwhile, the bottles will be in the Gallery “ITALY”, but periodically moved to the gallery of “belonging”
And ‘possible to find mignon are interested in, by clicking at the top right. on —> SEARCH, the word —> window or —> liquor or —> (type of liquor, eg grappa, not grappa) —> (name of the company: eg. MARTINI) —> specifica. liquor (eg: Pinch, which is one sc. wh. of Haig) etc..
Council, however, to do the research for now and for Italy, with the name of the manufacturer, eg. —> GALLERIES: flags appear 6 —-> (state of origin): open the galleries under the name of the individual manufacturer —-> BONOMELLI —> BROTTO —> CORA etc. …
The first gallery contains the manufacturers who do not have one of their own.
Will be selected in their galleries as they become available photos (many mignon are already in the gallery of product origin)
Dear fellow collectors, or just curious or interested for the first time,
in my collection, or better, in my way of collecting the bottles of liquor (which, for convenience, I shall refer to hereafter as “mignon”), a very important part of what we have collectors call VARIANTS, that is the details that make them different together the miniature liquor of the same: they are often numerous, dictated by the time of manufacture, by law, the needs of the market, from the comfort of manufacturing and distribution, market acceptance, the need for advertising to create consumer resulting distribution and sale ….. This is undoubtedly been one of the most successful advertising vehicles, given the amount of mignon “all ages” collectors that we were able to find a bit ‘all over the world and therefore have been produced “always” and even remarkable amounts.
Exaggerating, unfortunately, and inflating the market in the 60s, 70s, with firms producing only mignon to put on the market for the pleasure of the collector’s pleasure that lasted a few years, because it did not satisfy those who had purchased, there are no corresponding “liter bottle”, that is normal for home consumption, or by pouring in the bar, which was a miniature reproduction and give the correct reason collezionarla.
It was just that, at first, the specific reason why mignon were distributed, that advertise the same liquor and the company that produced it: the first representatives of this industrial PIONEERS, ranging from customers by bicycle to bring their products!
I still have to say that the great publicity, of course not only for the spirits, that was done through posters, they began to camp on the walls of the houses in France and later on all important roads, until the second half of 1800 to work of famous French artists of the time, as Eduoard Manet (the famous library Rothschild of Paris), Georges Meunier, Jules Cheret, who also put their art at the service of liqueurs and cognac production in France.
France was, in fact, during the “Belle Epoque” that accompanied a period of prosperity for the state, to promote the first advertising campaigns in the world known to import his product better: distilled from wine made with grapes grown in the region of Cognac, in fact. The posters became true works of art and the most important advertising vehicle at the time.
Hundreds of artists engaged at most in the whole of Europe at the time, with excellent results, which gave him fame and money to some, whose work was required overseas: Alfons Maria Mucha, Czech, Lucien Achille Mauzan, French, Leonetto Cappiello, Italian. And many of their works depicted their art “from above” to advertise the liqueur and lead to commercial success, as well as the miniature, a faithful reproduction of the bottle was delivered direct to the customer to “direct the taste.”
Great importance in the field ampersand was also given by the great development of decorative advertising, the primary form of collecting, even with this production of the highest quality and with a wide range of objects, more the statues, models of all kinds, mirrors, clocks, ashtrays, changer, fans, corkscrews, knives, playing cards, postcards …..
This form of collecting is highly developed “always” and, for what I know, has never had a drop, but for the more difficult to find material on the market and, I assure you, there is a collector of liquor, that does not have some old “object” advertising in the house.
We have news of the first productions of mignon in Italy, born as taste samples at the end of 1800 (big companies, some born many years earlier, STOCK, BUTON, GAMBAROTTA, PILLA, Alberti, FLORIO): mignon practically impossible to find. But t0rnando topic VARIANTS, over time, companies produced many mignon, different, even though the same liquor, for the reasons mentioned above, so that the differences are found in the samples of production liquoristiche 30s, 40s , 50: goodies for us collectors!
Personally, I have at least 50 miniature collection of Vecchia Romagna Brandy BUTON, the 30s just before “yesterday”, more numerous large bottles, which contain 1/2, 3/4, 1 and even 2 liters
. The distillery Gio Buton has always produced the miniature of his spirits: the older ones have a cork (all ‘the time they bottled and etichettavano “by hand” and had a capacity of 80 cc). Then the progress made it possible to increase its industrial production: the mignon, while maintaining the traditional form “three-sided”, became smaller (cc4o, CC30, CC25, mostly for income tax) with the cap-off metal, then Plastic and today lives with the tear (lately simply distributes the Brandy Ve. Ro.): These are substantial differences for the collector, which certainly expand their collection.
Other important differences are the inscriptions found on the label and its size: it calls for a very careful observation, besides a knowledge of the reasons for these changes, more than anything else, to know what to look for: usually written to vary the requirements dictated by the continuous changes of the legislature governing the sale of alcoholic beverages, “always” been a source of income for the state rapinoso, which forced the market to a drastic reduction mignon and make them almost disappear from traditional places of sale.
Probably, however, the first noticeable difference in mignon is the shape of the glass, then the type of closure (see those of Buton, to be precise), which, together with details mentioned above, the possibility of damage undoubtedly date them and, consequently, to assess the rarity and interest to collectors: old does not always mean value!
I remind everyone that circulate many, too many false, especially (of course) mignon of the oldest and most sought after. Are those that are dubbed “stickers” that is, those mignon (generally higher cc 60.00 up to 100.00 cc) to which the mark was applied for state liquor light metal.
It consisted of a double “medallion” of aluminum, combined in one part. The two medals, with a special gripper were embedded into one another, after having passed between the two a wire rope (strengthened and stiffened by a metal wire), which was cross, usually, on the labrum (the top of the neck with thickened glass, where it is added to the cork) bottle of liquor and that “clinging” to the side of it, it prevented the ‘opening, which thus became possible only by breaking the string (art. 126 of the Royal Decree- Law No. XI-2 February 1933. 23 of the Ministry of Finance), irreparably damaging the “sealing”.
Everything was done manually, so you can well imagine that this kind of miniature could not be manufactured in large quantities, although, some old and some liquor companies, it would not seem so.
Ergo, are with great difficulty. Almost always in old private collections.
Or, more easily, joining the Club of Mignonnettes as I did “some” years ago.
The Club of Mignonnettes will allow you to entrara in a collector’s different, fun and well organized: a very beautiful magazine will show you mignon of antiques and emissions liqueur brand new in the market today, you can get in touch with collectors through the provision of exhibitions- market, auctions and flea markets that the Club organizes throughout Italy.
Go to www.clubdellemignonnettes.it.
Unfortunately, even in this theme collectors swarming with “fakes”, the miniature tampered with, the mignon invented, mignon unique and there are not even the “boastful”, which they sell, especially on eBay, always “very rare” and “60/70” (which may be, yes, rare, if in 1961, but commonplace, where 1979 …..!).
For years fight against this “phenomenon”; difficult to replace, mostly because there are no official publications that can help the collector to make distinctions, or to know the year of manufacture, if not with the help of producers, which are very difficult, however, may contribute, because there is no stock of these products, in specialmodo if it is mignon antecedents the ’50s.
Later it was known only commercial value, which, in the early ’60s, was of consumerism, with very high production (in the gallery under ITALY —–> GMA show themselves, and not completamentemente, the number of bottles produced by the company and its GMA “amended”)
STOCK, BUTON, CINZANO, MARTINI, GAMBAROTTA, PILLA, MINOGUE, CUCCHI, CARPANO, ALBERTI (Strega liqueur), AVERNA, ISOLABELLA, LUXARDO, FLORIO, ASIAGO of RED: these companies have always produced at intervals longer or shorter, mignon sales of their products, replacing the market significantly.
E. .. thank goodness! … tell new collectors, that they are thirty years old and certainly not easy to find now.
There was in fact a long period, at least the early 80s until the end of the 90s at least, during which the production of mignon practically stopped and I, which for years has had started with the new ones, at the time production, could not find anything interesting, if not participating in the events of the Club of Mignonnettes, which would proved to be very interesting, as I became interested widely argument liquor in general and my passion grew, now is great (mania , perhaps?).
Later I met INTERNET where, for years even browsing eBay, I can say I have seen thousands and thousands of spirits of any kind and of any country, which would allowed me to be very expert mignon, especially of “false” , to be precise: I have seen in the USA, France, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Uruguay …. and also Italy, of course! Because I have the originals in my collection and I know because I documenteto buying old books on spirits and, more importantly, comparing with collectors especially if more experienced than me and anyway, when I noticed that, for years, I ALSO ‘I my “good” fakes collection.
But it is difficult to prove, if not exactly describing the inconsistencies based on your personal experience and hoping to get the other party accepts your deductions often were then also removed by eBay. But it gave me an Italian, however, the pain in the ass (Marktplatz .. that’s right?), While another wrote that he “sold as had bought them”, ie since he had made fool, he felt entitled to do the same thing to another!
An Englishman, however, after I had returned them to him, because it has been tampered with, I wrote that he had never received (no, that was not true tampering!), Unless, after a few months, put them back on sale. And still other cases …
As you can see, if there is passion, there is also very divertisi collecting. It is important, in my opinion, do not do it yourself and expand their knowledge on the subject to see what you bring home, behind a miniature of liquor, there are many other topics interesting to know.
Attending auctions and flea markets organized by the Club, you can also make friends important, as it happened to me, now I have no doubt that two more families to hang out with pleasure, even if not in the house (Mimmo Hello! Hello Lillo !).
Know how it is produced liquor, learn about the history of the manufacturers and the periods of industrial production, to go in search of old news, old articles on the subject, certainly help to become experts know for sure to make good purchases, to know how and what to look for.
What is the collector who is not seeking rare pieces (i. …. “stickers”), which enrich his collection?
But the scoundrels are lurking: Because too many seek only “those” if there are … you make and it is often very hard to detect. But the worst thing is that you can not prove it! If I have it in my collection and I’ve seen by other collectors, I can compare myself, but if you have not ever seen …… and what I’ve “never seen”!
If it interests you, a collector, get in touch, I will answer with pleasure.