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The Holland America Line Collectors Reference Library
Commemorative Wine Bottles
Since the early 1900s the Holland America Line has made specially designed wine bottles available to her customers. In some cases the passenger was given the item, sometimes it was made available for purchase. Other special occasions, for example the 1988 s.s. Rotterdam World Voyage may have warranted a custom bottle. Somewhere around the late 1990-s we see the first  appearance of sets of two different bottles for purchase in the dining room; usually one White and one Red wine. This custom seems to have continued until 2007, after which we have not seen any commemorative bottles.  The below collection is incomplete and if you have a bottle or that you do not see in the below exposition, please email me at tiemen @ halpostcards . com (spaces inserted to prevent autobot searches). I would welcome either a 300dpi scan or an opportunity to purchase/trade the actual bottle. Although I prefer fully filled bottles, I will also collect empty ones to have an example of the specific bottle.
Thank you
Tiemen Spits

The early years

The early years (1900 - 1950s) provide us with the most elaboratly designed bottles. As seen below, the 1910-1920 special ceramic monk bottle is a work of art. In the 1950-s a special decanter in the form or a Delft Blue Dutch house was issued and the round Delft Blue decanter is from 1968, the three Bols liquer bottles are from the 1980-s. I need any decanter not shown in the below exhibit.


Collection Spits
1910-monk-bottle (6 inches high)
collection: T. Spits
Collection Spits
1950-house-bottle (5 inches high)
collection T. Spits
Collection Spits
1968-decanter (front and back 8 inches high)
collection T. Spits
Collection Spits
1970-decanter (front and back 6 inches high)
collection T. Spits
Collection Spits
1980-Bols-liquer (3 different front images, common back image 5 inches high)
collection T. Spits

World Voyage

At the moment we are only aware of the existence of the ss. Rotterdam 1988 World Voyage bottle. I need this bottle for my collection.
Collection Spits
1993-rotterdam-world-red
Collection P. v/d Bemt

Annual Wines

Starting some time in the late 1990s, the Holland America Line provided two commemorative bottles of wine in the dining room for purchase each year. One would be a red wine like Cabernet Sauvignon, the other would be a white wine, most commonly Chardonnay. The wines were from different wine houses each year and the custom lasted until 2007, after which we have not seen any commemorative wine bottles on the market. I need any item for my collection listed below if it is not marked: "Collection T. Spits".
Collection Spits
1998-white
Collection Dakrewser (Dave)		 Collection Spits
2001-red
Collection T. Spits
Collection Spits
2001-red-2
Collection T. Spits		 Collection Spits
2004-white
Collection T. Spits
Collection Spits
2005-white
Collection T. Spits		 Collection Spits
2005-white
Collection  T. Spits
Collection Spits
2006-red-135years
collection T. Spits		 Collection Hornall Anderson
2006-red-60years
Collection/copyright  Hornall Anderson
Collection Spits

2007-white-135years
Collection T. Spits		 Collection Anderson
2007-white-60years
Collection/copyright Hornall Anderson

Display Bottles

Display bottles are the special large two liter size empty but fully corked and sealed bottles that are used in the on-board wine displays. Only very few of these are manufactured and each ship in the fleet will only have one or two of them. The bottles themselves are works of art with embossed, etched glass in wonderfully bright colors. These bottles are rarely found in the hands of the collectors. I am lucky to posess the bottle show here.
Collection Spits

Copyright Tiemen Spits 1999-2013