Not currently on display at the V&A

Bottle Ticket

1825-1826 (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 triangular ticket identifies the contents as claret. This was the English term for a red wine from the Bordeuax region of south-west France.

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
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Bottle Ticket
  • Chain
Materials and techniques
Silver
Brief description
Silver, London hallmarks for 1825-1826, mark of Charles Rawlings.
Physical description
Bottle ticket with the word CLARET (pierced lettering). Silver, scroll amid vines, the whole of triangular form; chain.
Dimensions
  • Length: 6.7cm
  • Width: 5.5cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • Mark of CR for Charles Rawlings, duty, sterling, date letter ‘k’, leopard’s head.
  • London hallmarks for 1825-1826
  • Engraved within a small medallion, an ostrich on a cap of maintenance holding in its beak a horse-shoe. Crest for Coke, Earl of Leicester
  • CLARET
Credit line
P. J. Cropper Bequest
Object history
Acquisition RF: 44 / 177
Bequest - P.J. Cropper
per W J Sheldrick
There is a split in the frame of the label.
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 triangular ticket identifies the contents as claret. This was the English term for a red wine from the Bordeuax region of south-west France.

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.753&PART-1944

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Record createdMarch 3, 2004
Record URL
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