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	BITTER SECRESTAT Peter Vermeulen Ravenstein, Netherlands Introduction Collecting bottles means more to me than just putting away a newly acquired item in a show case and now and then looking at it with a smile on my face. No, I'm always curious knowing more about its contents and the company, which used it for selling purposes. About 3 years ago I purchased a kind of Bordeaux wine shaped bottle provided with an oval applied seal "BITTER SECRESTAT". Visiting the UK National one year later I discovered a similar bottle, but it had a round seal. What could be the original drink in the bottles? My good friend from Germany, Jürgen Böhrens, suggested there was no booze in that bottle, but a kind of (bitter) water. Like the famous "Pullna Bitterwasser" sold in those characteristic square stoneware jugs.


	And on .... Just by coincidence I discovered last year in a share auction on the internet a share "Secrestat" from 1918. It was a beautiful calligraphic: a bridge over the river with at the back ground Bordeaux town and opposite the river the Secrestat premises. In the front a cylinder bottle was exposed with the Secrestat label and seal. Spontaneous I made a bid on the share and yes, I won. The share provided me with several information on the company. It was concerning "Maison J.Hré Secrestat Aîné at Bordeaux, the distillery was erected 1851. The 1918 a shares emission was organised 2000 shares, each 500 francs. To the share the original 50 coupons were still attached. The original drink was not a mineral water, but a bitter liqueur. Looking on the internet I noticed even a book on the company: "La Maison J Hré Secrestat aîné à Bordeaux 1851-1956" by J. Rousset. I'm still looking for that book. Perhaps one of the readers of this article could help out.