Irish Silver Geneva Label, 1811

Geneva is a scarce name on silver wine labels and this Irish piece is a fine example in excellent condition. The reverse side shows a good range of clear hallmarks including both the "JT" maker's mark for John Teare and the retailers stamp, "M.WEST" for Matthew West the premier Dublin silver shop.

The two engraved "tracks" on the reverse side (to the right of the hallmarks in the photo) suggest that the label was a re-cycled piece of silver cut out from an unwanted piece and the tracks were part of the decoration. Wine labels were often cut from scrapped items as it negated the need to melt, refine and roll a fresh piece of metal - far easier and less expensive to cut it out of a redundant piece.

"Geneva" was a euphemism for Dutch gin.