Photo Credit: Quirky-Quollectables
British Silver Vintage Liquor Label from 1966
Buy It Now Price: $44.57 (price as of 2017; item no longer available)
Pros:
-Elegance is the watchword with this Mid-Century British vintage liquor label that is cast in the shape of a scallop from solid Britannia silver.
-The piece measures 1.75 inches (4.5 cm) wide and weighs a hefty 34 grams (1.09 troy ounces). The average weight for a high quality silver liquor label is generally between 10 and 20 grams, so this is an exceptionally heavy specimen.
-This vintage liquor label is engraved with the word “Sherry”. Sherry is a fortified white wine that traditionally comes from grapes grown in a specific area of the Andalusia region in the south of Spain.
-This vintage liquor label was fabricated from an unusual silver alloy called Britannia silver. Britannia silver is 95.83% fine – purer than standard sterling silver which is 92.5% fine.
-Britannia silver was originally introduced in England in 1697 as a replacement for sterling silver. The change was meant to deter silversmiths from melting down circulating sterling coinage as raw material. The traditional sterling silver standard was restored in 1720, but Britannia silver remained a legal option for British silversmiths through to the present day.
-Although it employs a very traditional theme – a scallop shell – this vintage liquor label exudes the streamlined simplicity common to all good 1960s era, Mid-Century design.
-This British silver vintage liquor label is aesthetically compelling, and would be equally at home in a James Bond movie, the period TV drama Mad Men, or your private study hanging on a bottle of your favorite wine.
-The item’s hallmarks and style are completely consistent with a mid 1960s British attribution.
-It is very rare to come across an unambiguously investment grade antique that costs less than $50. This British silver vintage liquor label, at an asking price of only $44.57, is definitely one of those pieces. Honestly, the price is so low as to almost be ludicrous.
Cons:
-The piece was made in London in 1966 by an unknown firm that used the hallmark “BSC”. The desirability of the item might be enhanced if we knew which silversmith “BSC” represented.
-At the current spot silver price of $16.75 a troy ounce, the melt value of this vintage liquor label is only $17.54. The asking price is more than 2.5 times the melt value of the piece, which is neither a bad nor good ratio. You are mostly buying this piece for style and looks, not for intrinsic value.
