Bottle Ticket thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Silver, Room 67, The Whiteley Galleries

Bottle Ticket

1837-1838 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The word Madeira on this label refers to the rich wine produced on the island of Madeira. Bottle tickets like this 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
Brief description
Silver, London hallmarks for 1837-8, mark of Rawlings and Sumners.
Physical description
Bottle ticket with the word MADEIRA (pierced lettering). Silver, a fox sejant upon a wreath above a ribbon shaped escutcheon with scrollwork border, chain attached.
Dimensions
  • Length: 5.4cm
  • Width: 5.8cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • Mark of CR over WS for Rawlings and Summers, duty, sterling, date letter ‘B’ (?), leopard’s head.
  • London hallmarks for 1837-8
  • Crest, the whole in the form of a fox sejant upon a wreath.
  • MADEIRA
Gallery label
"MADEIRA" London, 1837-8 Mark of Charles Rawlings and William Summers In the form of a crest M.1003-1944(2000)
Credit line
P. J. Cropper Bequest
Object history
Acquisition RF: 44 / 177
Bequest - P.J. Cropper
per W J Sheldrick
Subjects depicted
Summary
The word Madeira on this label refers to the rich wine produced on the island of Madeira. Bottle tickets like this 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.1003-1944

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Record createdMarch 3, 2004
Record URL
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