I'm currently supervising the packing of the collections at a historic
house museum before they are transported to the store rooms at our central
museum (prior to massive refurbishment at the house).

Wolverhampton being a brewing town, our glass collection includes a lot of
beer bottles.  Going through these in detail, I discovered that three are
still full of beer.

Should I empty them, or keep them full?  All three have regular metal caps
(not screw caps) which appear to be securely in place.  All are around
250ml (is that 9 fl oz?)

One is a Guiness bottle, looks to be from around the 1940s/50s.  It is only
half full (has the rest evaporated?) and has solids sticking to the sides.
One is a 'stone' ale in an opaque glass (made to look like stone) bottle,
probably 1960s.  It 'sloshes' but I can't tell anything else.
The third is a Banks' ale made to celebrate Princess Anne's (first) wedding
in 1973.  It's full.

All are currently in a non-environmentally controlled room at the historic
house.  Their journey to the stores will be around a mile, where they could
be stored in either a controlled or non-controlled (but stable) storeroom.
There are no plans to exhibit them in the near future.

So, what should I do?  If I should empty them, is there a secret way or do
I just flip off the cap in the usual way (bending it in the process of
course).  If I don't empty them should I wrap them in any special way?  And
of course, the question all the wrapping team have been asking - can we
drink it? (does this count as deaccessioning?)

Any advice greatly appreciated.  Please respond off-list as I only rarely
manage to read all my Museum-L.

Thanks!


Philippa Tinsley
Registrar
Wolverhampton Art Gallery & Museum, Wolverhampton, England