Page 70 - Microsoft Word - miniz-digest-126-129.docx

located in 3454 Galván St., Buenos Aires city. Motivated by the aforementioned
collectors this firm decided to make miniatures of it’s products. However, they soon
realized that it was very difficult to fill the little bottles, so they directly gave to López
and Spinelli the job of making them. This story happened almost sixty years ago,
during 1962/1963.

Illustrated in figures 4 and 5, employing 50 ml
green glass bottles they made two miniatures
filled with red and white wines. The former, called
“Brigadier” was filled in a typical “burdeos” type
bottle, the latter, named “Viejo Castillo” was used
a “rhin” type bottle. Both were corked and topped
with a gelatin capsule. Two paper labels are
placed on their front. As displayed in their close-
up pictures, the main labels, besides the brand
names, provide the addresses of the producers
both in Mendoza and Buenos Aires provinces,
information regarding the content, as well as other
formal data. A kind of logo with the legend
“Enrique de la Tour-Vizconde Turena” used in the
smallest label in both miniatures is also printed on
the Brigadier main label, while a castle is
observed in the
Viejo Castillo
wine.

It is worth mentioning that the miniatures described
here are at the beginning of at least three decades
of the flowering of collecting in Argentina. In future
articles I will expand in more detail the history of
collecting in this part of the world and the active
role of some collectors in the production and the
national and international distribution of miniature
bottles from Argentina. To conclude, I would like to
thank Alfredo Spinelli for providing me the historical
pictures, data, and literature used to write this
article.

Caption of the figures.
Figure 1. Mr. F. López in the centre of two
collectors in the first exposition miniature organized
in Argentina.
Figure 2. Flyer of the first miniature bottle
exposition organized by “La Botellita” club in 1957.
Figure 3. Alfredo Spinelli at the left in the award ceremony in the 1957 exposition.
Figure 4. General view and label close-up of the Brigadier red wine.
Figure 5. General view and label close-up of the Viejo Castillo white wine.

Hugo G. Nami

- 9 -