Nothing to date. Advert was for a German surnamed liquor distributer, mineral water was a German brand. I'd not thought of the bottles themselves being basket-wrapped. I've always placed those further south, around the Med, but... That's why I wrote! I've no clue! RCL At 08:21 PM 12/28/98 -0500, you wrote: >...could this refer to the European custom of wrapping bottles in a >wicker-like covering, like a basket? Did you ever find an answer? I've >kept this in my inbox because I'm curious! > >VivianLea Stevens > >RCL wrote: >> >> I've run across an advert for bottled mineral water from 1870. It offers >> "...200 baskets - quarts and pints - ..." Can anyone explain "baskets" in >> this sense? I'd infer that it's used as we would use "cases". But were >> they really "baskets" as we know them? And is there any way to tell how >> MANY quarts or pints to the "basket"? >> >> Robert C. Leavitt >