Not currently on display at the V&A

Bottle Ticket

1830-1831 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Bottle tickets identified the contents of a bottle or decanter, which might alternatively contain spirits, sauces, toilet waters or cordials. The pierced lettering on this silver ticket identifies the contents as wine produced in Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands.

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 the designs and technical advances in metalware generally.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Silver, engraved and pierced
Brief description
Silver, London hallmarks for 1830-31, mark of Charles Reily and George Storer.
Physical description
Bottle ticket with the word TENERIFFE (pierced lettering). Silver, oval with triple reeded edge and chain attached; above a shield saupported on scrolls and engraved with the monogram MC.
Dimensions
  • Length: 4.6cm
  • Width: 4.2cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • Mark of CR over GS for Reily and Storer, duty, sterling, 'p', leopard.
  • London hallmarks for 1830-31
  • The monogram MC (unidentified) engraved within a shield.
  • TENERIFFE
Credit line
P. J. Cropper Bequest
Object history
Acquisition RF: 44 / 177
Bequest - P.J. Cropper
per W J Sheldrick
Orange thought to denote wine-producing town in the Rhone.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Bottle tickets identified the contents of a bottle or decanter, which might alternatively contain spirits, sauces, toilet waters or cordials. The pierced lettering on this silver ticket identifies the contents as wine produced in Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands.

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 the designs and technical advances in metalware generally.
Associated object
Collection
Accession number
M.443-1944

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Record createdJanuary 26, 2005
Record URL
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