Page 25 - Autumn Extravaganza Sunday 3rd October

112. ENGLISH BILTON PARK WIDE MOUTHED WINE BOTTLE. 8.7ins tall, black
glass (dark green held to light) wide mallet shape with short neck & wide neck with re annealed lip & string rim below, undamaged! Low body seal I [J crossed] / WATSON / Efqr /BILTON PARK [cu]. Base kick up, rough pontil. Hand written David Walker Barker label assigns date 1770-80. Lots of seed bubbles, couple burst, crude. Overall excellent. 9.5/10. NR. ££800-1,200+
Most of the seals relating to John Watson, owner of Bilton Park near Knaresborough, Yorkshire, are on tall neck, squat cylinder forms, of about 1770. The seals vary slightly I Watson [cd] / Esq / Bilton [cu] (c.1770), I / WATSON/ Esqr / BILTON PARK [cu] (1780-90) and I WATSON.BILTON [circling] 18812 (?) / ESQr. The last is a recorded line drawn in Ruggles-Brise (p160) but a fully corked bottle (Kiwi Auctions Oct 2021, lot 41) has no trace of the curious numbers (interpreted as a date 1812 in Burton & Mortimer). Around 16+ of these seals are recorded by Burton & Mortimer but only 2 with the wide neck (almost certainly making it a preserve container). No doubt David Walker Barker (it bears his label) spotted it was a rarer form and appreciated the seed bubbles which also lift it above the ordinary.
The person relating to the sealed bottles was John Watson who had a will dated for probate 1811. This John (1749-1810) was actually born John Farside. His father married John Watson senior’s
(died 1749) daughter Mary and, presumably a condition of inheriting his uncles estate, changed his name to Watson? The change may be the reason for the curious crossed F
like J on the seal. His sons George and John took the double barrelled name John Farside- Watson. This branch of the family were Master in Chancery.
113. ENGLISH MAXWELL CREST SEALED WINE BOTTLE. 10.3ins tall. Absolutely stunning, very crude, cylinder wine bottle. Shoulder seal features seated stag above letter
M - the Maxwell crest for the Earls of Nithsdale & Morton, which is a Scottish family. (See p1429 in Black Glass Bottles) Extraordinarily crude sloping lip with lagre string rim/ panel below. Full body sheen, large air bubble and overall whittled glass. Deep kick up, pontilled. David Walker
Barker Collection base label. Sealed cylinders really do not come any better! 9.9/10. NR. £170- 220+