Stolen Diamond-Adorned Russo-Baltique Vodka Bottle Found Dented, Empty

Summary: A diamond-adorned Russo-Baltique vodka bottle worth $1.3 million is back, dented and empty, within days of its theft from Cafe 33 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

the purloined vodka bottle (left) and its thief (right): Vodkasamling / Vodkacollection @vodkacollection via Facebook Jan. 2, 2018

A diamond-adorned Russo-Baltique vodka bottle and diamond-adorned Al Thani collection jewels respectively announce the new year's first high-profile robberies in Copenhagen, Denmark, Jan. 2, 2018, and in Venice, Italy, Jan. 3, 2018.

The first week bears Sheikh Hamad al-Thani brooch and earring set carry-outs no closure even though it brings the Cafe 33 break-in some Jan. 5, 2018. The carried-out gold, jeweled brooch and Cartier earrings no longer complete contemporary contributions to the Qatari royal family's collection of 270 Mughal Empire-created or inspired pieces. The perpetrators delayed security alarms detecting, until after their disappearing among St. Mark's Square (Piazza San Marco) crowds, dismantling without damaging the jewels' reinforced display case.

Four days short of two weeks later, museum security and Venice police still examine extractions that entail no evidence, eyewitnesses or, unlike Copenhagen police, surveillance footage.

empty spot on the shelf, between Poland's Belvedere rye and France's Cîroc eau-de-vie vodkas, formerly occupied by bulletproof Russo-Baltique Family Relique Vodka bottle: The Local Denmark @TheLocalDenmark via Twitter Jan. 5, 2018

Surveillance camera footage from early pre-opening hours Jan. 2, 2018, focus upon Cafe 33's intruder with semi-form-fitting outerwear and only eyes free of face- and head-wear.

Facial recognition softwear perhaps gets boosts from semi-grainy images that glimpse right cheekbone, chin, mouth and nose through face-wear from below the eyes through the chin. A flashlight helps the key-carrying Cafe 33 intruder head for, and out with, the diamond-adorned Russo-Baltique vodka bottle from upper shelves in the 1,200-piece vodka museum. The 3.3-pound (1.49-kilogram) gold-instilled, 3.3-pound (1.49-kilogram) silver-instilled exterior includes a Russian imperial eagle near the front's bottom and on the diamond-adorned, white and yellow gold cap.

The radiator guard-styled label juxtaposes gold from 1908-1912 coins for a car image under the legend Russo-Baltique Family Relique Vodka and silver for two supporting squares.

The leather strap fragment on the purloined Russo-Baltique Family Relique Vodka bottle comes from 1912 Monte Carlo rally car driver Andrei Platonovich Nagel (left) and copilot Vadim Alexandrovich Mikhaïlov (right), seated in Russo-Baltique S24/55 Torpedo roadster outside Russian Imperial Automobile Society (RIAS) premises, St. Petersburg, before start of race, in which they covered 3,257 kilometers (2,023.8 miles) in 8 days 3 hours 23 minutes (195 hours 23 minutes), Jan. 13 to Jan. 21, 1912: N. Nemirovich/Polytechnical Museum of the USSR via Wikimedia Commons

The exterior keeps a leather strap fragment from 1912 Monte Carlo rally car drivers Andrei Platonovich Nagel (March 2, 1877-Nov. 10, 1956) and Vadim Alexandrovich Mikhaïlov.

Television series buffs look at diamond-adorned Russo-Baltique vodka bottles as launches for the gold-bottled, $750,000-valued Obosaya Sayanska vodka in House of Cards season 3, chapter 29. Automobile history buffs mention Russo-Baltique cars of 1908-1912 from Riga, Latvia, where Dartz Motorz founder Leonard F. Yankelovich makes sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and vodka bottles. Vintage collectors note Prince Albert netting the first namesake bottle to premier at the Top Marques Monaco in the Grimaldi Forum on Larvotto April 17-20, 2014.

Company marketing offers the diamond-adorned Russo-Baltique vodka bottle, with packaging designs by Princess Regina Abdurazakova of Kazakhstan, to "woo Russian royalty, tycoons, and wealthy aficionados worldwide."

Brian Ingberg, owner of Cafe 33 in western Copenhagen's Vesterbro neighborhood, with empty space, above gun (left), formerly occupied by bulletproof, pricey, stolen bottle of vodka: Ekstra Bladet @ekstrabladet via Facebook Jan. 3, 2018

Cafe 33 owner Brian Ingberg placed the diamond-adorned Russo-Baltique vodka bottle, on uninsured loan, before the theft between Poland's Belvedere rye and France's Cîroc eau-de-vie vodkas.

The global, round-the-clock news network RT.com quotes Ingberg that, with the empty bottle's recovery, "I will be sleeping with it under my pillow" Jan. 8, 2018. Copenhagen police spokesman Riad Tooba revealed the dented, empty bottle's recovery Jan. 5, 2018, from a Charlottenlund construction site 6.22 miles (10 kilometers) north of Copenhagen. Yankelovich said Jan. 6, "I thought it was a New Year's joke, but it was not a joke. I trust (recovery through) the god of vodka."

Ingberg terms the thief's drinking experience most likely as "smooth and round" and "very tasty" even though "It's difficult to attribute a taste to wheat-based vodka."

Craftsman Jesper Kemper found the empty, purloined bottle at a construction site in Charlottenlund, on Copenhagen's northern outskirts: Ekstra Bladet @ekstrabladet via Facebook Jan. 5, 2018

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

the purloined vodka bottle (left) and its thief (right): Vodkasamling / Vodkacollection via Facebook Jan. 2, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/vodkacollection/photos/a.206016546249931.1073741836.146186198899633/776109535907293/

empty spot on shelf formerly occupied by Russo-Baltique Family Relique vodka: The Local Denmark @TheLocalDenmark via Twitter Jan. 5, 2018, @ https://twitter.com/TheLocalDenmark/status/949278832246210560

The leather strap fragment on the purloined Russo-Baltique Family Relique Vodka bottle comes from 1912 Monte Carlo rally car driver Andrei Platonovich Nagel (left) and copilot Vadim Alexandrovich Mikhaïlov (right): N. Nemirovich/Polytechnical Museum of the USSR via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Russo-balt_s24-55_ralli_monte-karlo_1.jpg

Brian Ingberg, owner of Cafe 33 in western Copenhagen's Vesterbro neighborhood, with empty space (left), above gun, once occupied by the bulletproof, pricey, stolen bottle of vodka: Ekstra Bladet via Facebook Jan. 3, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/ekstrabladet/posts/10155400380463520

Craftsman Jesper Kemper found the empty, purloined bottle at a construction site in Charlottenlund, on Copenhagen's northern outskirts: Ekstra Bladet via Facebook Jan. 5, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/ekstrabladet/posts/10155404387973520

For further information:

"Andrei Nagel." Moscow to Melbourne.
Available @ http://www.melbournetomoscow.com/engadv.html

Brownell, Bradley. 7 January 2018. "Stolen Bottle of Vodka, Inspired by 1912 Monte Carlo Rally Entrant, Worth $1.3 Million, Recovered Empty and Dented." Jalopnik.
Available @ https://jalopnik.com/stolen-bottle-of-vodka-inspired-by-1912-monte-carlo-ra-1821855139

Clante, Caroline; Albert Schmidt Møller. 5 January 2018. "Jesper fandt vodkaflasken til otte millioner." Ekstra Bladet.
Available @ https://ekstrabladet.dk/112/jesper-fandt-vodkaflasken-til-otte-millioner/6985021

Ekstra Bladet @ekstrabladet. 5 January 2018. "Da vi møder ind her til morgen, så står vodkaflasken midt på det nystøbte gulv, siger håndværkeren." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/ekstrabladet/posts/10155404387973520

Ekstra Bladet @ekstrabladet. 3 January 2018. "Hvis de havde brudt døren op, så havde vi fanget dem med fingrene i dåsen." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/ekstrabladet/posts/10155400380463520

Kelly, Maurice A. 2009. Russian Motor Vehicles: The Czarist Period 1784 to 1917. Dorchester UK: Veloce Publishing.

The Local Denmark @TheLocalDenmark. 5 January 2018. "Stolen 'world’s most expensive' vodka bottle found empty at Danish building site." Twitter. Jan. 5, 2018.
Available @ https://twitter.com/TheLocalDenmark/status/949278832246210560

The Local Denmark @TheLocalDenmark. 3 January 2018. "'World’s most expensive vodka' stolen from Copenhagen collection." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/TheLocalDenmark/status/948474281393975296

Marriner, Derdriu. 5 January 2018. "Al Thani Collection Brooch and Earrings Stolen at Venice Exhibition." Earth and Space News.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/01/al-thani-collection-brooch-and-earrings.html

Pillai, Shalu. 10 July 2015. "Russo-Baltique Unveils World's Most Expensive Vodka, at $1.3 Million a Piece." Luxurylaunches > What's New > Gastonomy.
Available @ http://luxurylaunches.com/gastronomy/russo-baltique-unveils-worlds-most-expensive-vodka-at-1-3-million-a-piece.php

Seiger, Theresa. 9 January 2018. "Vodka Bottle Worth $1.3 Million Found Drained But Intact at Construction Site." WHIO TV > News > Crime.
Available @ http://www.whio.com/news/crime--law/vodka-bottle-worth-million-found-drained-but-intact-construction-site/1zcYSIbRbg85SmnAMNsbgJ/

Sorensen, Martin Selsoe. 6 January 2018. "Stolen Vodka Bottle, Said to be Worth $1.3 Million, Is Found Drained and Dented." New York Times > World > Europe.
Available @ https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/06/world/europe/vodka-gold-bottle-stolen-copenhagen-denmark.html

"Stolen €1.3 mn Gold-plated Vodka Bottle Found Empty at Building Site." RT.com > World News > Published Time: 5 Jan. 2018 17:38 Edited Time 6 Jan. 2018 08:34.
Available @ https://www.rt.com/news/415097-stolen-vodka-bottle-found/

Vodkasamling / Vodkacollection @vodkacollection. 2 January 2018. "HJÆLP . . . har for første gang brug for hjælp . . . Nogen har i nat været inde “med nøgle” og stjæle min vodka russo Baltique vodka." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/vodkacollection/photos/a.206016546249931.1073741836.146186198899633/776109535907293/