Not currently on display at the V&A

Bottle Ticket

1846-1847 (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. The pierced lettering on this lable identifies the contents as sherry wine from Spain.

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
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Bottle Ticket
  • Chain
Materials and techniques
Silver, pierced and repousse
Brief description
Silver, London hallmarks for 1846-1847, mark of Rawlings and Summers.
Physical description
Bottle ticket with the word SHERRY (pierced lettering). Silver, pierced and repousse, fancy escutcheon with vines above, scrollwork below and two foxes at the sides, chain.
Dimensions
  • Length: 5.9cm
  • Width: 4.0cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • Mark of CR over WS for Rawlings and Summers, leopard’s head, sterling, date letter ‘L’ (?), duty.
  • London hallmarks for 1846-1847.
  • SHERRY
Credit line
P. J. Cropper Bequest
Object history
Acquisition RF: 44 / 177
Bequest - P.J. Cropper
per W J Sheldrick
Subjects depicted
Summary
Bottle tickets identified the contents of a bottle or decanter, which might alternatively contain spirits, sauces, toilet waters or cordials. The pierced lettering on this lable identifies the contents as sherry wine from Spain.

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.998&PART-1944

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdMarch 3, 2004
Record URL
Download as: JSONIIIF Manifest