History: Identification

From 1636, at about the time of the first appearance of glass bottles in post-Roman Britain, it was illegal to sell wine by the bottle. This consumer protection measure was on account of vintners’ willingness to take advantage of the varying capacity of blown bottles. From that time and for the next 230 years, wine was sold by the measure and then bottled. Customers who bought regularly had their own bottles and had them marked in order to distinguish them from any others that might be at the vintner’s premises waiting to be filled. The usual marking was the attachment at the end of the production process of a disc seal of the same glass as the bottle, upon which was impressed the owner’s initials, name, or heraldic device, often accompanied by the date. Innkeepers and taverners had appropriately marked, or ‘sealed’, bottles too. It may be noted here that these seals did not indicate the contents.