Antique glass sealed wine bottle English c1820

Sealed wine bottle with a crest of a horse’s head with a branch within an octagonal shaped border.  Three part moulded Ricketts Patent cylinder bottle c1820. The base moulded Ricketts & Co Glass Works Bristol. Lightly embossed around the edge of the shoulder PATENT. The initials on this elaborately engraved seal have been recorded as AGT or AET, surmounted by a unicorn’s head, the branch above the head giving the impression of the hours of a unicorn. 

Although it is probably that this is a family crest, it is possible that the engraving relates to a Unicorn Tavern of which there are a number in London from early as the mid 17th century.  Possible associations include the Unicorn Tavern in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden (1774 - 1789 and 1801 - 1827). The Unicorn, Clare Market (c1760), the Unicorn in Suffolk Street, Charing Cross (1770), the Unicorn Tavern Hoxton Old Town (1809 - 1827) and the Unicorn next to the Grasshopper, Lombard Street (1794 - 1874).

Information from Antique Sealed Bottles 1640-1900: and the Families who Owned Them by David Burton and Christopher Mortimer Antique Collectors' Club volume 3, p. 1452.

Condition: Very good. 

Marris  Antiques - I have been a specialist antique glass dealer since 1986.  My stock consists of a wide range of antique 18th and 19th century English and Irish glass including antique drinking glasses, rummers, tumblers, decanters, coloured glass and a selection of late 19th & early 20th century Whitefriars glass. My website displays a small selection of my glass, however, if you are looking for something specific and cannot find it, please do not hesitate to contact me direct from my website contact page,  Email mail@marrisantiqueglass.com or Telephone: +44 (0)7841 500644.