LONDON -- A bottle of 1787 wine apparently bottled for Thomas Jefferson returned to American hands Thursday for more than 10 times the previous world auction record.
The bottle of 1787 Chateau Lafite, sold by West German music publisher Hardy Rodestock of Wiesbaden, was bought by Christopher Forbes, third son of American magazine publisher Malcolm Forbes, for $157,500, Christie's auction house said.
The previous highest auction price ever paid for wine was about $15,000 last June for an 1811 Lafite.
The 198-year-old bottle of wine sold Thursday was in its original hand-blown green glass bottle, inscribed with the initials THJ.
Jefferson, who became probably America's first wine connoisseur during his European assignments, wrote from Philadelphia to a French count in 1790 ordering 10 cases wine for himself and 30 cases for President George Washington.
In addition, Jefferson placed an order for several bottles of 1787 Lafite, each bottle to be inscribed with his THJ initials. Christie's said 'it is presumed' the bottle sold Thursday was one of them.
