Not currently on display at the V&A

Bottle Ticket

ca. 1810 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The history of bottle tickets provides a fascinating insight into English eating, drinking and personal habits. 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. Their function was to identify the contents of a bottle or decanter, which might alternatively contain spirits, sauces, toilet waters or cordials. These tickets also illustrate in miniature the skills of the silversmith over the last two hundred years. While the variety of styles and materials were enormous, silver bottle tickets tended to reflect fashionable designs in metalware generally. Makers were quick to adapt the many technical advances of the 18th and 19th centuries.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Silver, engraved
Brief description
Silver, engraved with a Viscount's crest (unidentified), no hallmarks, London, mark of Phipps and Robinson, ca. 1810.
Physical description
Bottle ticket with the word CAPE. Oval, engraved with a Viscount's coronet and crest, with a chain for suspension.
Dimensions
  • Height: 1.0625in
  • Width: 1.8125in
Marks and inscriptions
  • No hallmarks
  • Mark of Phipps and Robinson
  • Engraved with a Viscount's coronet and crest, (unidentified), the crest a lion's gambe, holding in the paw a trefoil.
  • CAPE
Credit line
Given by J.H. Fitzhenry
Subjects depicted
Summary
The history of bottle tickets provides a fascinating insight into English eating, drinking and personal habits. 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. Their function was to identify the contents of a bottle or decanter, which might alternatively contain spirits, sauces, toilet waters or cordials. These tickets also illustrate in miniature the skills of the silversmith over the last two hundred years. While the variety of styles and materials were enormous, silver bottle tickets tended to reflect fashionable designs in metalware generally. Makers were quick to adapt the many technical advances of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Collection
Accession number
1257-1903

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Record createdMarch 21, 2006
Record URL
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