Not currently on display at the V&A

Bottle Ticket

1827-1828 (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. Here the contents would have been Madeira, a fortified wine named after the island where it was produced.

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
Brief description
Silver, London hallmarks for 1827-1828, mark of Emes and Barnard.
Physical description
Bottle ticket with the word MADEIRA (pierced lettering). Silver, oblong with repousse border of bold, floral scrolls and chain attached.
Dimensions
  • Length: 5.8cm
  • Width: 3.1cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • Mark of RE over EB for Rebecca Emes and Edward Barnard, duty, sterling, 'm'.
  • London hallmarks for 1827-1828
  • MADEIRA
Credit line
P. J. Cropper Bequest
Object history
Acquisition RF: 44 / 177
Bequest - P.J. Cropper
per W J Sheldrick
Subject depicted
Summary
Bottle tickets identified the contents of a bottle or decanter, which might alternatively contain spirits, sauces, toilet waters or cordials. Here the contents would have been Madeira, a fortified wine named after the island where it was produced.

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.558-1944

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Record createdMarch 3, 2004
Record URL
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