With the arrival in the middle of the eighteenth century of the new style dining tables and demand for objects to furnish them the wine coaster started to make its presence felt.
Normally supplied in pairs or sets of four they were sometimes referred to, in old inventories as bottle stands, wine slides, decanter coasters/stands – but we shall call them wine coasters which is the most commonly used term today.
Their original purpose was for housing a decanter to provide a decorative aspect to the table and to prevent scratching of the table by the cut glass. The earliest coasters generally start to appear around 1760, very few are known before this time. The oldest coasters tend to be hand pierced around 5 inches (12.5 cm) diameter with mahogany inserts (occasionally with silver layered over the wood).
There were specialist makers such as Thomas Nash, Samuel Herbert, Robert Hennell and many other well-known silversmiths. Most wines and fortified wines such as Brandy and Port were always decanted at this period so although they were originally used for decanters most people use them for bottles today.
By the later eighteenth century the wood inserts are often oak and the coasters tend to be a little larger (in fashion with the larger decanters) and solid sided. The styles and patterns produced were enormous.
At William Walter Antiques we have an extensive range from the 1760s right up to the present day including (at the present time) a pair belonging to The Archbishop of Canterbury and a Prime Minister
