Vintage Seagram's V.O. One Gallon Canadian Whisky Store Display Bottle

The glass is dark and heavy. Almost black. You feel the weight of it before you even pick it up. This is a one gallon store display bottle of Seagram's V.O. Canadian Whisky, believed to date from the late 1950s or early 1960s. It was never meant to be sold. It was built to be seen, to stand behind a bar and mean something. The front label reads 86.8 proof, six years aged, blended and bottled by Joseph E. Seagram and Sons, Waterloo, Ontario. Canada's Finest. The back label reads as it always has: honored the world over for integrity, tradition, craftsmanship, since 1857. The original US federal tax strip, marked U.S.A. One Gallon, remains on the neck. The bottle is sealed and empty. The condition is fair. The neck wrap is significantly deteriorated, with large sections cracked, peeling, and lifting. The body label shows age-appropriate staining, creasing, and edge wear. The glass itself is perfect.

River brought the bottle against her and held it there. The glass was cold. She did not mind. She stayed with it a long time, her hands wrapped around the neck, her eyes somewhere else. There is a warmth left in this piece that did not come from the whisky.