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 containing ‘Teneriff’ wine.
Bottle tickets such as this one 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 in metalware generally.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Silver
Brief description
Silver, Dublin hallmarks for 1814-15, mark of John Teare
Physical description
Bottle ticket with the word TENERIFF(sic). Silver, irregular curved oblong with chain.
Dimensions
  • Length: 4.6cm
  • Width: 1.9cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • Mark J.T for John Teare, date letter ‘S’, harp, Hibernia, duty.
  • Dublin hallmarks for 1814-15
  • TENERIFF
Credit line
P. J. Cropper Bequest
Object history
Acquisition RF: 44 / 177
Bequest - P.J. Cropper
per W J Sheldrick
Summary
This label would have hung round the neck of a bottle containing ‘Teneriff’ wine.
Bottle tickets such as this one 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 in metalware generally.
Collection
Accession number
M.62-1944

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Record createdMarch 3, 2004
Record URL
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