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Next Meeting - Autumn Weekend on 22 & 23 October 2010
This weekend is now planned as follows:
FRIDAY 22 OCTOBER
2.00pm Visit to Vintners Hall in the city of London to view the Anderson
collection of wine labels, a fine and large group formed by an early collector.
There will be a charge of £10 per member or guest
7.00pm An informal supper at a central London restaurant
will be arranged
SATURDAY 23 OCTOBER
11.00am Visit to Apsley House, no 1 Piccadilly once the
home of the Duke of Wellington to view the interior and particularly the
spectacular silver. There will be a charge of £10 per member or guest
12.45pm Lunch at the Rembrandt Hotel, opposite the
Victoria & Albert Museum
2.00 Wine Label Circle AGM at the Rembrandt Hotel
3.15pm Talk on armorial crests on wine labels by Gale
Glynn, a leading authority on silver and armorials. There will be no charge
4.15pm Tea and opportunity to examine members labels and
informal discussions.
Booking forms will be included with the autumn Journal in mid
September.
Recent Meetings
Spring 2010
Meeting was held in London on Thursday 13 May. There
was at 4.30pm an Open Forum for members to discuss Circle matters. The Spring
Meeting followed at 6.30pm, with a talk on Samson enamel wine labels and a
discussion about a planned publication on champagne wine labels. Then members nd
guests enjoyed drinks, a light buffet and examination of a variety of silver and
enamel labels.
Autumn 2009
Meeting was held in Birmingham on Friday 23 & Saturday 24 October 2009.
Friday 23 October:
In the morning we visited the factory of W H Darby, whose primary
business is the manufacture of badges and medals. They also make the Wyard
Druitt wine labels designed by Michael Druitt. We saw all processes from the
die-stamping with powerful presses, engraving, enamelling and finishing. After
a quick sandwich we were at Birmingham Assay Office at 2.00pm for a talk and
video on assaying and hallmarking followed by a viewing of the Assay Office’s
silver and, in the library, the wine labels in the Assay Office’s collection (1)
including this fine pierced example with the mark of Joseph Taylor (2). In the
evening we enjoyed an informal dinner in an Italian restaurant (3) - it wasn’t
as dark as this appears.
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1. Viewing labels at the Assay Office |
2. Label by Joseph Taylor |
3. Some members at dinner |
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Saturday 24 October:
We visited Soho House in the morning, the home of the Birmingham entrepreneur
Matthew Boulton, a leading proponent in the establishment of the Birmingham
Assay Office in 1773. Then lunch at the Burlington Hotel followed by the AGM
where members (4) faced a table of the Circle’s officers (5). The AGM was
followed by an excellent lecture by Professor Ken Quickenden on Matthew
Boulton’s customers.
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4. Members at the AGM |
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5. Circle Officers |
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Officers in photo 5 left to right: Bruce Jones
(Co-Editor), Peggy Pullan (Secretary), Gordon Proctor (President), Terry
Gill (Vice-President), Stuart Wood (Treasurer & Membership Secretary).
A number of members had brought labels,
particularly Birmingham labels, for everyone to view and handle (6) and Pat
Holder brought a selection of the fine labels he had himself made (7). So ended
a most enjoyable couple of days in Birmingham.
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6. Labels at the meeting |
7. Pat Holder's labels |
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Spring Meeting 2009 was held on 14
May at the Savile Club in London. Philippa Glanville gave an excellent
illustrated lecture on ‘The Art of Drinking’ helping to place wine labels in the
social and economic context of their times. This well attended meeting,
including representatives from the Glass Circle, then discussed matters, viewed
labels and enjoyed a buffet.
Autumn 2008 meeting and AG was held in London on Saturday 25 October 2008. We viewed the silver and particularly the labels
at the Victoria & Albert Museum in the morning, including those in the reserve
collection. Pictures of some of the members viewing labels 'behind the scenes'
at the Museum appear below (1 & 3). At (2) is one of the trays of labels. We then had lunch at the Rembrant Hotel opposite the Museum, followed by the AGM. At
that AGM, Gordon Proctor (4) was elected President for the next two years and a
wine label suitably inscribed for 'Treasurer's
PORT' (5) was presented to outgoing Treasurer Patrick
Gaskell-Taylor (6). Then the audience of some forty members and guests (7
& 9) enjoyed a stimulating lecture by David Constable (8) on armorial and crested labels.
He illustrated these on screen and members displayed examples from their
collections on the table in front of him and were able to examine
the labels afterwards.
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1. Viewing labels at the V & A |
2. Tray of labels at the V & A |
3. Viewing labels at the V & A |
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4. Gordon Proctor - President |
5. Presentation wine label |
6. Patrick Gaskell-Taylor |
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7. Part of the audience |
8. David Constable lectures |
9. Audience - another view |
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Joint meeting with
the Glass Circle was held on 8 April 2008 to discuss, labels, decanters and
glasses and the relations between these associated articles. The speakers
were Andy McConnell, author of 'The Decanter' and the glass expert on the
television programme The Antiques Roadshow; and Professor John Salter, Editor of
'Wine Labels 1730-2003' and author of 'Sauce Labels'.
Spring 2008 meeting was held
at the Savile Club, Brook Street, London W1 on Thursday 20 March 2008. The theme
was enamels, with much appreciated talks by Erika Speel, an expert on painted
enamels and the history of enamelling; and Dr Richard Wells, a noted authority
on enamels labels who
has provided three fine supplements on the subject for members.
The 2007 AGM was held on Saturday 20
October 2007 at the Castle Hotel, Taunton, Somerset. After a visit in the
morning to the County Museum and a buffet lunch at the Castle Hotel, around 25
members gathered for the AGM, which
commenced at 2.15pm. The year was reviewed, the accounts discussed, future plans
were outlined, officers were elected for 2007/08, and suggestions for the
continued improvement of the Journal were put forward. After the conclusion of
the meeting, Tim Kent led a discussion of Exeter wine labels and members were
able to view some 100 such labels. Some photographs at the Castle Hotel below.
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Several Circle Officers - & Exeter labels |
Two former Circle Presidents |
Discussions after the AGM |
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Discussions over lunch |
The President (right)and a member |
Discussions over lunch |
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The 2007 Spring meeting was held
at the Savile Club, Brook Street, London on Thursday 22 March. John Rocyn-Jones
led a discussion on the eighteenth century silversmith Susanna Barker and a good
selection of labels with her mark were examined by members. Before this talk,
members approved an updated Constitution for the Circle.
The
2006 AGM was held in
London on Saturday 14 October 2006. After an
informal lunch attended by some members, the AGM was held at the Wine &
Spirit Education Trust. Tony Hampton was elected President for the next
two years and Nicholas Shaw gave a very well received talk on heraldic and
animal labels and showed many examples of these fine and rare designs. To give a
flavour of proceedings, we show three photographs - one of the tables at
lunch (outside in mid October in London!), Nick Shaw holds up a label during his
presentation, and some members inspect labels after the presentation.
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Some members at lunch beforehand |
Nick Shaw presents |
Inspecting labels |
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Two Organised Meetings
Each Year
The Circle holds two organised meetings each
year, a Spring Meeting in March and an Autumn Meeting in October - see dates
below. Each of these meetings has a theme, such as particular designs or silversmiths. Members are
encouraged to bring their own labels illustrating the theme and other labels
they wish to discuss and seek opinions. Members also have the
opportunity to meet, socialise exchange information and labels and take part in
developing the work of the Circle. In addition to these organised meetings,
individual members meet informally from time to time, typically around the time
of, and indeed at, antique fairs.
Venues for Meetings
The Spring meeting is held in London, while
the Annual General Meeting alternates annually between London and other venues
of interest for label collectors such as Edinburgh, Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol,
York, Sheffield, Birmingham. The content of the programme varies but may include
visits, hands on inspection of collections, presentation of papers, and lunch or
dinner.
When visits have been made to those museums which hold
collections of wine labels, members have had the chance, not normally given to
the public, to handle and inspect many examples of the label makers' craft.
Among the museums visited are the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; the Royal Museum of
Scotland, Edinburgh; the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; and the London
Museum, London. Similar opportunities have been afforded by Birmingham Assay
Office, and the Goldsmiths' and Vintners' Companies, London.
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