A bottle ticket is a small label, usually of silver, hung on a chain around the neck of a decanter or bottle to identify its contents, such as port, sherry, claret, madeira or brandy. Bottle tickets are also known as wine labels or decanter labels.
They came into use in England around the 1730s, when wine and spirits were increasingly served from glass decanters at the table. The earliest are simple escutcheon or rectangular shapes, and later Georgian examples include crescents, shells, vine leaves, scrolls and individual letters, with stamped, cast, engraved or pierced decoration. Leading silversmiths, including Hester Bateman, Paul Storr and the Birmingham and Sheffield trades, made them in large numbers, and they were also produced in enamel, Sheffield plate, porcelain, ivory and mother-of-pearl. After legislation in the early 1860s allowed wine to be sold by the single bottle with printed paper labels, their use declined. Collectors value rare names of wines and spirits, unusual shapes, good makers and crisp hallmarks, though small labels were often only partly marked. A set of old bottle tickets on matching decanters adds charm and history to a drinks tray.
