Not on display

Bottle Ticket

1830-1831 (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 word Orange on this label may refer to the wine-producing town of Orange in the Rhone valley in France.

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. Here the silversmith has engraved the decoration, using a sharp tool or ‘graver’ to remove tiny slivers of metal. 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
Engraved silver
Brief description
Silver, London hallmarks for 1830-1831, mark of Reily and Storer.
Physical description
Bottle ticket with the word ORANGE (pierced lettering). Silver, oval with triple reeded edge and chain attached; above a shield saupported on scrolls and engraved with the monogram MC.
Dimensions
  • Length: 4.6cm
  • Width: 4.2cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • Mark of CR over GS for Reilly and Storer, duty, sterling, 'p', leopard.
  • London hallmarks for 1830-1831
  • The monogram MC (unidentified) engraved within a shield.
  • ORANGE
Credit line
P. J. Cropper Bequest
Object history
Acquisition RF: 44 / 177
Bequest - P.J. Cropper
per W J Sheldrick
Orange thought to denote wine-producing town in the Rhone.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Bottle tickets identified the contents of a bottle or decanter, which might alternatively contain spirits, sauces, toilet waters or cordials. The word Orange on this label may refer to the wine-producing town of Orange in the Rhone valley in France.

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. Here the silversmith has engraved the decoration, using a sharp tool or ‘graver’ to remove tiny slivers of metal. 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.442-1944

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Record createdMarch 3, 2004
Record URL
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