Not currently on display at the V&A

Bottle Ticket

1896-1897 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This ticket or label would have hung round the neck of a bottle of brandy. Bottle tickets identified the contents of a bottle or decanter, which might alternatively contain spirits, sauces, toilet waters or cordials. Contemporary gazettes begin to refer to ‘labels for bottles’ in the 1770s but it was not until the 1790s that they were established as wine or decanter labels.

These tickets also illustrate, in miniature, the skills of the silversmith over the last two hundred years. While the variety of styles and materials was enormous, silver bottle tickets tended to reflect fashionable designs and technical advances in metalware generally


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Silver with repousse border, engraved
Brief description
Siver, mark of Charles Boyton, London hallmarks for 1896-1897
Physical description
Bottle ticket engraved with the word BRANDY. Silver, fancy oblong escutcheon with border of repousse scrollwork and chain attached.
Dimensions
  • Height: 1.375in
  • Length: 2.375in
Marks and inscriptions
  • Mark of CB for Charles Boyton
  • London hallmarks for 1896-7
  • BRANDY
Credit line
P. J. Cropper Bequest
Subject depicted
Summary
This ticket or label would have hung round the neck of a bottle of brandy. Bottle tickets identified the contents of a bottle or decanter, which might alternatively contain spirits, sauces, toilet waters or cordials. Contemporary gazettes begin to refer to ‘labels for bottles’ in the 1770s but it was not until the 1790s that they were established as wine or decanter labels.

These tickets also illustrate, in miniature, the skills of the silversmith over the last two hundred years. While the variety of styles and materials was enormous, silver bottle tickets tended to reflect fashionable designs and technical advances in metalware generally
Collection
Accession number
M.366-1944

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Record createdDecember 23, 2004
Record URL
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