“When the labelling
of wine was an elegant craft.”
One of the
pleasures of collecting wine labels is finding a label with an unusual name,
(especially if it is at an acceptable price!).
The first unusual
named label that I bought (subsequently entered in the Wine Label Circle’s list
of names), was called ‘Choice Port’. It is not a remarkable label, probably
late Victorian and silver plate. It is quite long, a cut form of joined letters
and I imagine that it might have been hung on the neck of a large glass barrel.
Perhaps the barrel might have been standing on a counter where the ‘Choice
Port’ could have been purchased on draught by the pint, truly a ‘Grocer’s
Port’.
What
prompted me to write this note was seeing a label on Ebay with the name of ‘Old
Mountain’. It had been made in London by Sebastian Crespel (2) and was dated
1841.
Researching
through back copies of the Wine Label Circle journals I came across an
interesting paper that was published in December 1964. Members of the Circle
surveyed a total of one thousand, eight hundred and seventy labels using the
following guide;
“This is a study of the periods when certain wines and spirits
enjoyed popularity, with particular reference to the frequency
of
their names on silver wine labels, where dating can be
accurately
read from their hallmarks or reasonably assessed from their
makers'
marks.”
The entry for Mountain wine labels
offered the following report:
"MOUNTAIN shows well how
sudden can be the change in taste and
fashion. This Malaga wine was more popular than Sherry during most
of the 18th century but, during the last twenty years, Sherry took
over from it. Mountain labels peter out after 179O and finish at 1827
while, starting in the 1790s, SHERRY labels begin to increase rapidly.
Mountain was a wine which improved well with age. Andre Simon
quotes Dr. Wright as saying in 1795; "Malaga wine, when genuine, is
admirable, but now hath lost its reputation; the arts arising from
sophistication have almost extinguished its name ... No wine can be
more improved by age warmth and motion than Malaga ... Malaga, old
and unadulterated may justly be styled a useful cordial".
Although our latest Mountain label is dated 1827, Penzer
mentions "Old Mountain" being sold at a sale of Talleyrand in
1835,
and there is an OLD MOUNTAIN label dated 1841 in the Sandeman
collection."
(The Sandeman
Collection had been formed by members of the wine shipping family and consisted
of some 700 labels).
The popularity
of sherry labels is often seen in the number that are available to buy. Generally
a plain sherry label is not expensive, but if it has been made by a sought-after
maker or is a particularly unusual design the price will naturally escalate. A
rarer form of label is where the style of the sherry is identified, it can be ‘Pale
Sherry’, ‘Old Sherry’ or perhaps numbered as in the photograph below.
If you are
looking for a scarce and fine quality sherry you can find an ‘Amontillado’ label on Ebay.
It is a heavy 44g cast label in a shell form, dated 1875 by William Summers. You
will have to put your hand quite deeply into your pocket as the price is £595,
however, the vendor – sunbeau, (Gary Bottomley of Antique silver spoons
website), is open to offers, link to ebay Amontillado
At the other end of ‘Sherry’ there are 2 labels by Elizabeth Morley on
Ebay, one at £49.00, (An early piece, 1794),
the vendor does identify a slight ding), below, follow link to ebay
and the other
Morley, (below), in good condition is from 1807, and priced at
£79.00.
If you collect
labels by Elizabeth Morley and you are looking for an unusual name then look at Coritani,
where you will find Raspberry Brandy, this is certainly a scarce name to acquire, see below.
Two other fine labels on Ebay that have caught my eye are from David
Buck at Steppes Hill Farm Antiques. He trades on Ebay as rulebritannia and is
offering a York label,link to ebay
The other particularly fine label amongst the six David Buck is offering is a Claret
from Dublin, link to ebay Claret from Dublin
Sauce labels continue to be in good demand on Ebay, four mid
19th century labels by Rawlings and Summers sold last week with the
prices ranging between £90 & £130 each. There is currently an early Phipps
Robinson Kyan on offer,here is the linkto ebay, Phipps & Robinson Kyan, Place your bids please!
Before closing I will suggest again to any readers who are looking at
this blog and have an interest in wine labels, you should seriously consider
joining the Wine Label Circle, it is only a thirty-pound annual subscription.
There is a useful website, http://winelabelcircle.org/, here
you can access all the *digitized journals of the Wine Label Circle, (these
date back to 1952), and perhaps best of all, there are two meetings where you
can meet others with similar interests. The next meeting is at Alton in
Hampshire, October 19th/20th when members will have the
opportunity of looking at labels in the Allen Gallery. http://winelabelcircle.org/meetings
Happy
collecting!
