Antique silver — the most interesting small collectibles in London

A cast wine label with integral crest engraved for HOCK, by Isaac Cookson of Newcastle (d. 1754), crested for FENWICK .
Price: £975.00

This label is described as follows in Wine Labels 1730-2003 (2004)- p. 224:
"Mid-eighteenth century cast designs are rare [in Newcastle], but not unknown. Isaac Cookson made a version of the two putti design (see fig. 744 HOCK by Isaac Cookson circa 1745) incorporating, top centre, a crest of a phoenix in flames , 'murally gorged'. This is the crest of the Fenwick family , which had several branches in the surrounding counties of Northumberland and Durham. As with all armorial labels, these labels would have to have been made to a private commission and were probably in a set of six".

This label was exhbited at the Wine Label Circle in 2003 while the BURGUNDY from the set is mentioned in the Society's Journal in 1954, the CLARET in 1957. PORT, CHAMPAGNE and another (unspecified) were referred to in 1976.

A George III escutcheon-shaped wine label for CLARET, by Samuel Teare of Dublin circa 1755, initialled {BE}
Price: £495.00

A wine label for CALCAVELLA of similar shape and threaded border by this maker is in the collection of the National Museum of Ireland and is illustrated on page 129 of 500 years of Irish silver by Ida Delamer and Conor O'Brien (2005) as figure 23.23.

A rectangular wine label with canted corners engraved for BRANDY, York 1807 by William Astley
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There were only 14 labels assayed by this maker in 1807-1808

A crescent wine label engraved for PORT, Chester circa 1780 by Joseph Walley of Liverpool.
Price: £425.00

A pair of Victorian thread-edge wine labels engraved for MARASCHINO and CURACOA, by Yapp and Woodward Birmingham 1854 .
Price: £395.00

A George III wine label with feather-edge border and cartouche set below the name, engraved for CLARET, by Thomas Hyde London circa 1770, showing the crest of Charles Schaw Cathcart, 9th Baron Cathcart (1721-1776) .
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Charles Schaw Cathcart (1721-1776) served as a Lord of the Bedchamber to George II and A.D.C. to William, Duke of Cumberland at the battle of Fontenoy in 1745. At Fontenoy, he received a wound on his cheek evident in all later portraits. In 1749, Cathcart was one of the officers sent to Paris in preparation for the peace treaty. In 1760 he was promoted to Lieutenant-general and, among many offices and accolades, he was made a Knight of the Thistle in 1763. He served as British ambassador to Russia from 1768-1771.

A "two putti" pattern wine label engraved for QUINCE, Birmingham 1808 probably by Matthew Linwood.
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Although this label does not carry a maker's mark, this design is closely associated with Matthew Linwood (see Wine labels 1730-2003, figure 781 and page 242).

An oval reeded wine label engraved for SHERRY, by Williams Brothers Exeter 1853
Price: £295.00

This label was once part of the Warde-Aldam family silver at Hooton Pagnell, Yorkshire. It is one of only 33 assayed by the Williams Brothers at Exeter and must be one of the earliest of their labels assayed there -- Exeter Assay Office records only show their labels from 1854 onwards.

A wine label with threaded border pierced for CHAMPAGNE, by Thomas Phipps and Edward Robinson London 1806.
Price: £295.00

A thread-edged wine label pierced for NOYAU, by Phipps and Robinson London 1806 .
Price:

Noyau, as well as being the name of a town in Picardy and on Haiti, is a French liqueur made from brandy and flavoured with almonds and the pits of apricots. 'Noyau de la Martinique' is mentioned in the London Public Advertiser on 11th May 1775.

A small bottle stand mounted on a wooden base, by Robert Hennell London 1832, crested for the GORDON family, baronets of Niton.
Price: £275.00

Sir James Willoughby Gordon (1772-1851) became Quartermaster General under the Duke of Wellington in 1812 and held the post until 1851, as well as being MP for Launceston 1829-1831.

A George III wine label engraved for PORT with chased border, by Barber and Whitwell York circa 1820 .
Price: £245.00

A small number of labels in this design are recorded (see figure 762 in 'Wine Labels 1730-2003') and another PORT formed part of lot 166 in the Woolley and Wallis silver sale on 16th April 2019). On 30th May 1820, the York Assay Office book records Barber and Whitwell submitting wine labels (among other things) but they were detailed as: '6 Chased labels [and] 24 Shelled labels'. One might suggest that this label is one of the ' 6 Chased' examples.

An Old Sheffield Plate wine coaster with japanned base and border pierced with Prince of Wales Feathers, circa 1790 .
Price: £240.00

A coaster of very similar design to the body of this one can be seen in figure 334a of Gordon Crosskey's Old Sheffield Plate: A history of the 18th century plated trade (2011). The japanned base, described as 'very rare' on page 280 of that book, a set with these bases shown in figure 333.

A boudoir label engraved GLYCERINE, by William Jones London 1859 .
Price: £225.00

A pair of George III Old Sheffield Plate wine coasters with pierced borders and applied rococo cartouches, circa 1780. The cartouches carry the crest and coronet of Thomas Tracy, 6th Viscount Tracy (1719-1792) .
Price: £220.00
The Tracy family received the Viscountcy of Tracy of Rathcoole in 1643 for their support of Charles I in the English Civil Wars. When the 5th Vicount died he was succeeded by three of his sons in turn (all of whom died without heirs to the title).
Thomas Charles, 6th Viscount (1719-1792) held the title from 1756 until 1792 and was succeeded by his younger half brother. The 7th Viscount, formerly the Hon. Dr. John Tracy (1722-1793), survived his brother by only a year (the 7th Viscount was also Warden of All Souls, Oxford from 1766 until his death). Finally their youngest brother, the Hon. Henry Tracy (1733-1797) became 8th Viscount and when he died in 1797 the title became dormant (although there were several claims to revive it in the nineteenth century).

A George III wine label with shell and scroll border pierced for SHERRY, by John Reily London 1816, crested for Henry Vassall-Fox, 3rd Baron Holland (1773-1840).
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Henry Fox (later Vassall-Fox) (1773-1840), was 3rd Baron Holland from 1774. He was descended from Charles II (via the Dukes of Richmond) and inherited his title when just over a year old. His was a strongly Whig family with his uncle being the orator Charles James Fox. Baron Holland himself was described as 'rather the Whig party itself than its leader'. As a result of his firmly held Whig principles, Holland held few Government offices — he served as Lord Privy Seal in the brief 'Ministry of All The Talents' that followed the death of William Pitt the Younger in 1806, and then as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster between 1830-1834 and 1835-1840. In 1797 he married the recently divorced Elizabeth, Lady Webster, daughter of Richard Vassall of Jamaica (after paying £6000 in damages to Webster for 'criminal conversation' with his wife, which led to the birth of the future archaeologist (and General) Charles Richard Fox).

A rectangular label with cut corners engraved BRANDY by Joseph Angell, London 1813.
Price: £120.00

A George III hump-top wine label, pierced as a sunburst and engraved for PORT, unmarked circa 1790 .
Price: £110.00

This label is illustrated in Wine Labels 1730-2003 (ed. John Salter, 2004) as figure 155 on p. 52.