Christopher "Kip" Forbes () is vice chairman of the

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

Publishing company.

Life and career

He attended St. Mark's School in

Southborough, Massachusetts Southborough is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It incorporates the villages of Cordaville, Fayville, and Southville. Its name is often informally shortened to Southboro, a usage seen on many area signs and maps. At th ...

, and

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. His brother is

Steve Forbes Malcolm Stevenson Forbes Jr. (; born July 18, 1947) is an American publishing executive and politician who is the editor-in-chief of ''Forbes'', a business magazine. He is the son of longtime ''Forbes'' publisher Malcolm Forbes and the grandso ...

, who has made multiple runs for the U.S. presidency and written some in-depth political and economic narratives. Always interested in art and collecting, he worked with his father,

Malcolm Forbes Malcolm Stevenson Forbes (August 19, 1919 – February 24, 1990) was an American businessman and Republican Party politician most prominently known as the publisher of ''Forbes'' magazine, which was founded by his father B. C. Forbes. He repres ...

restoring the

Château de Balleroy A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking reg ...

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, and Old Battersea House in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Mr. Forbes has written numerous books and catalogues about art and collecting, including ''Fabergé: The Forbes Collection'', co-authored with Robyn Tromeur and published by Hugh Lauter Levin. On December 5, 1985, Kip Forbes paid the highest price ever recorded for a single bottle of wine.

Hardy Rodenstock Meinhard Görke, known as Hardy Rodenstock (7 December 1941 – 19 May 2018) was a German publisher and manager of pop and Schlager music, and a prominent wine collector, connoisseur, and trader, with a special interest in old and rare wines. ...

(Meinhard Görke) put one of the 'recently discovered' "Th. J." (

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

) bottles up for auction at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

in London: a bottle of 1787 Château Lafite engraved "1787 Lafitte Th. J." The bottles had been found in a walled-up old cellar,Keefe, Patrick Radden, ''The Jefferson Bottles'', The New Yorker, September 3, 2007
p. 7 and were

engraved Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an inta ...

with vintage years from the late eighteenth century. This had in itself been an interesting find for a collector of old wines, but the bottles also were engraved with the initials, "Th. J.", which was taken as an indication that they had belonged to

. Jefferson was an active

oenophile Oenophilia ( ; from Greek for 'love of wine', see '' oinos'' and ''-philia''), in the strictest sense, describes a disciplined devotion to wine, accompanying strict traditions of consumption and appreciation. In a general sense however, ''oenoph ...

and wine collector, who spent much time in

during the 1780s and whose interest in wine is well documented.J. Robinson (ed), ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'', Third Edition, pp. 375-376, Oxford University Press 2006; The auction catalogue simply listed the value as "inestimable", and it was sold for 105,000

pound sterling Sterling (symbol: £; currency code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound is the main unit of sterling, and the word '' pound'' is also used to refer to the British currency general ...

which, as of 2007, remains the worldwide auction record for a single bottle of wine.Keefe, Patrick Radden, ''The Jefferson Bottles''
''The New Yorker'', September 3, 2007, p. 1 Forbes was bidding against

Marvin Shanken Marvin R. Shanken (born October 4, 1943) is an American publisher and founder of M. Shanken Communications. Shanken's roster of lifestyle publications includes ''Wine Spectator'', ''Cigar Aficionado'' and ''Whisky Advocate''. Shanken is editor ...

of ''

Wine Spectator ''Wine Spectator'' is an American lifestyle magazine that focuses on wine, wine culture and wine ratings. It is the flagship publication of M. Shanken Communications, which also publishes ''Cigar Aficionado'', ''Whisky Advocate'', ''Market Watch' ...

'' Magazine, with Michael Broadbent handling the

gavel A gavel is a small ceremonial mallet/hammer commonly made of hardwood, typically fashioned with a handle. It can be used to call for attention or to punctuate rulings and proclamations and is a symbol of the authority and right to act officially ...

at the auction. Rodenstock is currently in court charged with perpetrating large-scale wine fraud. It is alleged that the Thomas Jefferson bottles are fake, and multiple experts and various pieces of evidence apparently support this conclusion. Rodenstock has refused to allow the German magazine ''

Stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. O ...

'' to have the wine's veracity tested at its expense. A book, ''The Billionaire's Vinegar'', has been published about the affair, although it has been withdrawn from the UK market following legal action by Michael Broadbent. The film rights to both the book and a ''

New Yorker New Yorker may refer to: * A resident of New York: ** A resident of New York City and its suburbs *** List of people from New York City ** A resident of the New York (state), State of New York *** Demographics of New York (state) * ''The New Yor ...

'' article about the scandal have been purchased.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, Christopher Living people St. Mark's School (Massachusetts) alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Princeton University alumni

Christopher Christopher is the English language, English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek language, Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or ''Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Jesus ...