IN BRITAIN such is our appreciation of wine that accessories to enhance the ritual of drinking it have proliferated. Claret jugs, corkscrews and wine labels are just a few of the many types of silver and glassware that are now highly collectable, too.

“England has always been the centre of the production of wine accessories and the UK is still the largest importer of wine in the world,” says Robin Butler, a dealer in wine-related antiques and author of The Book of Wine Antiques. “As we did not actually produce very much of it, instead we created wonderful accessories with which to enjoy it.”

Mr Butler, based in Suffolk, is one of the dealers in wine collectibles who will be exhibiting at the Winter Chester Antiques and Fine Art Show at the County Grandstand, Chester Racecourse, on February 15 to 18. Another is the Petworth dealer Nicholas Shaw, who says: “While wine itself has been around for at least 5,000 years, it is about 300 years ago that the now highly collectible wine-related ephemera began to appear. The first wine labels are hugely popular with collectors.”

These labels are the predecessors of the modern paper label. The earliest were made in parchment, bone, wood or ivory and hung by a chain about the neck of the bottle. Later, from about 1740, wine labels tended to be silver. They would differentiate between the bottles of wine typically found in well-stocked households — namely, claret, port, madeira and sherry.

“There is a huge variety of shapes, sizes, names and decorations — at least 2,000 to 3,000 different examples,” Mr Shaw says. “For example, a label in the Georgian style will be relatively simple, whereas a Regency one will be much more ornately decorated with motifs, such as shells.”

Mr Shaw will be selling an exceptional example: a label for a sherry bottle made in London in 1840 for Lord Coke, of Holkham Hall, Norfolk. It is silver and emblazoned with the family crest — an ostrich with a horseshoe in its mouth — and is priced at £3,950, which is top of the range for such items.

Another highly collectible wine-related antique is the corkscrew. Originally, they were known as bottlescrews and the first patent for one

was issued to the Rev Samuel Henshall in 1795. In 1802 Sir Edward Thomason patented a new variety, the double-action corkscrew. He was not alone; by the turn of the last century, more than 300 patents for corkscrews existed in England alone. “There is a vast array of corkscrews and collectors want to buy something no one else has,” Mr Shaw says. Prices for early models start at £3,000 to £4,000.

These labels and corkscrews are now largely for show, but many wine-related antiques are still usable today, glassware particularly so. “In the early 18th century the first wine bottles that could be stored on their side appeared, giving rise to the whole new area of glass,” Mr Butler says. “Probably the best-known example is the claret jug. These were initially solid silver, but from the 1830s they were made of glass and silver, usually cut glass and often green or burgundy.”

Mr Shaw adds: “The best period for claret jugs is 1836 to 1850. Even today these are a must-have accessory for many a dining room, and prices range from £2,500 to £6,500.”

He is selling a claret jug of engraved glass on a silver mount, made in 1865 in Sheffield by William and George Sissons. It is priced at £3,250.

For the serious wine collector, these are only a few of the areas to explore. Wine coasters, which held decanters, also attract attention. Originating from about 1760, most come in pairs, made of wood and silver.

Others items include decanters, funnels, punch bowls and wine coolers, but the variety is vast. Mr Butler, for example, will be selling a “gentleman’s social table”, or wine table, made in 1795 to the 1793 design of George Hepplewhite. He also has a magnum Hodg-ett’s decanter in its original stand from 1805.

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