Page 61 - Alan Blakeman Collection catalogue

An important Oxford tevern
sealed onion bottle
5.1ins tall. Exquisite split size small sealed
English onion wine. Black glass/ dark green, wonderful thin tipped string rim, deep kick up,
base pontil. Large applied body seal strongly embossed with three tuns (barrels) and the script letters R/ Bradgate. Classic words, here goes - mint apart from the hole in the back, lol! So, this was
142. THREE TUNS SEALED ONION BOTTLE.
the onion on the Clevedon Bottle Show stall all day which remained unsold, open to offers, but nobody offered. To be scooped alongside the next lot, the unique Nailsea jam jar, for far, far, far less than most folks dreamt of, too polite to stab at an offer. Never walk past an item marked offers? The Three Tuns in Oxford is, with the possible exceptions of a pre-1650 dated
seal, one of the most desirable seals. The tavern has been extensively researched and appears in
all books on sealed wine
bottles. An affordable sealed onion and an important bottle despite the damage! 6/10. NR. £600-
800+
P153, Antique Sealed Bottles (unillustrated entry) by David Burton.
is an important bottle despite the significant damage as it represents the last in a series of tenancies between 1639 (Humphrey Bodicott) and 1748 (Elizabeth Bradgate, widow). There is substantial written evidence to show he succeeded Ann Tomlinson at the tavern but he is not mentioned by Leeds (pp.44-55) nor by H. E. Salter in his notes on wine licences based on the Oxford City Lease Books which gives a list of tenancies from 1575 to 1750. The Three Tuns tavern was owned by University College and Richard Bradgate will have held
R / Bradgate surmounted by three tuns, within a beaded border
Oxford onion, c.1719-1729. dark olive-green glass with tapering neck and prominent string rim, squat bulbous body, slightly wider at the base. with a domed basal ‘kick-up’ and sand pontil scar. A large piece of glass is missing from the rear of the bottle opposite the seal.
a licence from the University rather than the city corporation so he would not have been recorded in the Lease Books. He is mentioned in H. Gearn’s diary for 9th January 1729/1730. He had been an apothecary before taking on the Tavern and married Elizabeth Mathews who succeeded him in running the tavern.
Provenance: The engraving can be attributed to Richard Bradgate who succeeded as tavern keeper at the Three Tuns tavern in Oxford following the death of Ann Tomlinson on 3rd May 1719 (Leeds, 0.33).
It is the only example known confirming his tenancy and
Guy Burch