It Takes Two To Tango

Few story types are as much fun to read as the great "con" - particularly when the targets are willing players - allowing themselves to be had - again - and again - and again - 

Add an easily understood background "tutorial" on the subject of the con - bios of the players in the con - both the "con-ers" and "con-ees" - stretch the time line over 20 years - add one of the great figures to ever walk the face of the earth ......

You've got - Benjamin Wallace's - The Billionaire's Vinegar

1985 - Christies in London - Kip Forbes - representing The Capitalist's Tool - bids against Marvin Shanken - struggling publisher of the then barely known Wine Spectator - for a single bottle of 1787 Chateau Lafitte from the Paris wine cellar of Thomas Jefferson - discovered at an undisclosed location by a relatively unknown dealer - Hardy Rodenstock -

The gavel comes down - Forbes pays $156,000 - everyone gasps-

Forbes - the son - thought he was going to catch hell from Forbes - the old man - for paying so much - until - realizing the headlines being generated - he embraces his son for a job well done - eventually building a special display space - sans climate control - within the Forbes Gallery - to show off the bottle - claiming the bragging rights for owning the world's most expensive bottle of wine -

Shanken - the loser - vowed to win the next time a bottle of the same caliber and "provenance" became available - being joined in his quest for "the" bottles by a cast of "collectors" from around the world - all seeking to possess objects that could not be opened - tasted - authenticated - for even if they were - who was to say - what it was supposed to taste like - what the nose might convey - plus - and its a big plus - once you drank it - it was gone - i.e. - it no longer had any value - as it no longer existed -

Each chapter/episode unfolds - historic (1700 France) - recent (1980/90 Europe) - current (2000 Cape Cod) - only to become intertwined in the next one or pulling on tidbits from previous chapters -

The undercurrent throughout - that there is was always a willing buyer for whatever there was to be sold - pushes to the surface - real players feeding on each other's needs - like dance partners - the "con-ers" and "con-ees" - one side believing it was buying the "holy grail" - the other - that it was making the "holy grail" - quite well - thank you very much -

There was not reason to think it would not go on and on - until some of the questionable bottles - from the same dealer who began the ruse - were sold to Bill Koch -

Unfortunately for the "con-er" - this "con-ee" was determined to once and for all - prove his purchases were real or just frauds - he demanded authentication - money that could afford $100,000 plus bottle purchases - could afford staff that would pursue the truth - using technology previously non-existant and/or beyond the reach of mere mortals - the hunt was at times - "to the ends of the earth" -

Koch got what he considered to be - his proof - looking for justice - but by then - many of the principals were gone or too old to care -

Rodenstock - the prime culprit - simply refused to defend himself - internationally speaking - he essentially "hung up the phone" -

While we can sit back and speculate on why this happened then - why it went on for as long as it did - why there were so many players - and - why it could not happen now - it did and it will surely happen again - think Hedge Funds -

With a rich glass of Bordeaux - its a great read -

Enjoy

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Youth is open to not close the book, life is not the first set foot on the way back, love is thrown out on being paid the bet.