Irish Silver Madeira Label, 1816 Townsend

This Irish antique silver wine label named for Madeira was made in Dublin by John Townsend. The label is in the form of a banner and hangs from its original chain.

The hallmarks to the reverse side are interesting in that they appear to have been struck twice; once with three larger stamps - crowned harp to left, duty mark to right and "JT" maker's mark below and again with a stub-marked set to the centre. The larger sets of marks were presumably punched prior to the use of stub marking (i.e. individual stamps) and the addition of the duty mark in 1807. A possible explanation for two sets of hallmarks might be that the label remained unsold in Townsend's stock and at a later date he decided to have it re-marked in the new style to conform to customer expectations.

This interesting wine label remains in excellent condition