MOSCOW, December 8 (RIA Novosti) - Historian Alexander Nikishin presented Thursday his $5-million Russian vodka collection that showcases the history of the traditional Russian drink.
Most of the 40,000 pieces, which Nikishin collected over 15 years, are currently on display in Moscow.
"All these pieces have their destiny," he said. "They performed their functions during feasts and should have perished but survived to show what has been happening in Russia."
The collection includes glass and ceramic vodka bottles used in the beginning of the 20th century, advertisements, leaflets distributed in Soviet Russia to promote a healthy way of life, a 1988 edition of the Trezvost I Kultura (Sobriety and Culture) magazine, an electromechanical corking device that was seized from an underground plant producing fake beverages, and even the sofa on which "vodka king" Pierre Smirnoff died.
