A RARE PEWTER 'BOTTLE' CAPACITY MEASURE

A RARE PEWTER 'BOTTLE' CAPACITY MEASURE

POSSIBLY WEST COUNTRY, C.1870-78

no maker's mark but with a rare distinctive crowned ‘X’ inside the base, the body form is distinctively different to so-called 'bulbous' measures, which are almost never seen with a double curved handle with erect thumbpiece

26.6 fl oz. 13.1cm high

Provenance

The Carl Ricketts Collection of Pewter.

Catalogue Note

This rare measure was legal only from c.1870 to 1878. The capacity could also be expressed as two-thirds of a quart, which had been used in South Wales and Bristol as a customary capacity for decades. Very few localities adopted this capacity, which could not be verified without the use of legal standards.