Not currently on display at the V&A

Bottle Ticket

1814-1815 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This label would have hung round the neck of a bottle of Madeira wine. 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, pierced
Brief description
Sil;ver, mark of William Elliot, London hallmarks for 1814-1815
Physical description
Bottle ticket with the word MADEIRA (pierced lettering). Silver-gilt, waisted oblong with rounded corners, gadrooned border with shells and scrolls at the corners, chain attached.
Dimensions
  • Height: 1.5in
  • Length: 2in
Marks and inscriptions
  • Mark of W.E for William Elliot
  • London hallmarks for 1814-15
  • MADEIRA
Credit line
P. J. Cropper Bequest
Subjects depicted
Summary
This label would have hung round the neck of a bottle of Madeira wine. 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.616-1944

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Record createdDecember 24, 2004
Record URL
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