With this type of slot bottle ticket the name of different contents could be slotted in as required. 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.

The variety of styles and materials was enormous. This example is made of electroplated nickel silver. In this process the nickel base has been coated with a thin layer of silver deposited onto it by electrolysis. The British firm Elkington & Co. pioneered the electroplating technique in the 1830s and by the 1840s it rapidly replaced Sheffield plate.