About
My Story
I am an addicted Placomusophile...
It all started quite innocently enough when I took my future wife, Doris, to dinner the very first time. The sommelier suggested we celebrate with a bottle of Champagne to commemorate the occasion. It was a bottle of 1976 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne. It was exquisite!
Our waiter left the metal capsule from the top of the cork on the table as a memento of a beautiful evening. The cap featured the design of a knight with his sword held high atop a steed. I absentmindedly picked it up, took it home and deposited it into my spare change coin jar. That's how it all started – I had unofficially and unconsciously started collecting Champagne capsules. I was now a placomusophile (plăk–ō–mōō–sō–fēl) – and Champagne was to become "our" drink.
Today, my wife and I have tasted over 900 different varieties of Champagne and sparkling wines. I have collected over 7,000 different capsules and have over 5,000 additional duplicate caps which I exchange or sell. You see, that's what a placomusophile does – they collect, exchange and sell "plaques de muselets." It's a very popular hobby in Europe but little known in the States.
