The age of an object, specimen or substance can affect its value in a number of ways. The value of wine, whisky, beer, art, cars and antiques are all greatly affected by their age.

A vintage bottle of Bordeaux wine from 1787 was recently sold in London for £105,000 and is currently the most expensive bottle of wine in the world. Vintages, of course, can also indicate when a wine is past its best or was not good from a particular region, perhaps because part of the year was too dry or too hot.

The older a whisky is the more expensive it is likely to be. A 62 year old bottle of Dalmore sold recently for £25,877. The length of time a whisky has been matured in barrel has a profound effect on its individual characteristics. The longer it has been allowed to mature, for instance 25 years, will mellow the whisky and subtly alter it.

It is invaluable to be able to date antiques as it can substantially alter their value. A whole variety of processes can be employed in order to ascertain their age. Maker’s marks which change quite often are the most common way of working out a date of an antique.