Not currently on display at the V&A

Bottle Ticket

ca. 1900 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This ticket would have hung round the neck of a bottle or decanter of port wine. 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.

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
Electroplated nickel silver
Brief description
Electroplate, England, ca.1900
Physical description
Bottle ticket (one of a pair) with the word PORT. Electroplated nickel silver, irregular oblong with repousse border of mouldings, shells and scrolls with chain attached.
Dimensions
  • Height: 2in
  • Length: 2.375in
Marks and inscriptions
  • No marks
  • PORT
Credit line
P. J. Cropper Bequest
Subjects depicted
Summary
This ticket would have hung round the neck of a bottle or decanter of port wine. 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.

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.
Associated object
Collection
Accession number
M.343-1944

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Record createdDecember 21, 2004
Record URL
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