3-082-026 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Advertisement for Mariani Wine, 1895. 'Telegram from Russia. "Send to anitchkoff [Anichkov] Palace St Petersburg immediately one dozen Mariani Wine for H[er] I[mperial] M[ajesty] Empress of Russia". A subsequent letter, ordering a further supply of 50 bottles Mariani Wine, states that H.I.M. the Dowager Empress of Russia has derived the greatest benefit from its use. Mariani Wine fortifies, nourishes, and stimulates the Body and Brain. It restores Health, Strength, Energy and Vitality. Bottles, 4s. ; dozen, 45s., of Chemists and Stores, or carriage paid from Wilcox and Co., 239, Oxford Street, London'. Mariani Wine was a coca wine and patent medicine made from Bordeaux wine and coca leaves. The ethanol acted as a solvent and extracted the cocaine from the coca leaves. It originally contained 6 mg of cocaine per fluid ounce of wine, but Vin Mariani that was to be exported contained 7.2 mg per ounce. Alexandra Feodorovna, born Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine (1872-1918) was the last empress of Russia as the consort of Tsar Nicholas II. She was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and one of the most famous royal carriers of haemophilia and passed the condition to her only son, Alexei. She and the Tsar and their children were executed in 1917. From "Illustrated London News", 1895.