Not on display

Bottle Ticket

1829-1830 (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. This ticket is slightly damaged. However, the word PORT, which identified the contents, is still clearly legible.

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, pierced and engraved
Brief description
Silver, Birmingham hallmarks for 1829-30, mark of Ledsam, Vale and Wheeler.
Physical description
Bottle ticket with the word PORT. Silver, pierced and engraved; super imposed round ended ribbon label surrounded by openwork vine leaves (damaged), chain attached.
Dimensions
  • Height: 1.75in
  • Length: 2in
Marks and inscriptions
  • Mark for Ledsam, Vale and Wheeler.
  • Birmingham hallmarks for 1829-30
  • PORT
Credit line
P. J. Cropper Bequest
Subjects depicted
Summary
Bottle tickets identified the contents of a bottle or decanter, which might alternatively contain spirits, sauces, toilet waters or cordials. This ticket is slightly damaged. However, the word PORT, which identified the contents, is still clearly legible.

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.1076-1944

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Record createdFebruary 7, 2005
Record URL
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