Silver label for rum decanter
date: label: Date
content: 1802
name: label: Manufactured by
content: Thomas Wallis II, English, active ca. 1778 - 1809
notes: label: Caption
content: These pieces, much like those they would replace in Slavery and Freedom, represent the deadly plantation economy in the New World that satisfied the international demand for sugar, which became a staple in the English tea industry. They also represent the financial success that sugar brought to successful slave owners, financiers, slave traders, sugar merchants, and the lifestyle maintained by sugar consumers in the United States. Sugar, Britain’s largest import, was also the focus of one of the first anti-slavery boycotts after the abolition bill was rejected by British Parliament in 1791. The boycott attempted to put economic pressure on the slave-dependent industry of sugar, hastening the end of the trade.
label: Description
content: A silver label for a rum decanter by Thomas Wallis II, London. The label is a single piece of flat, slightly curved metal suspended on a chain. The label is roughly rectangular shaped with rounded corners. The top edge rises in a single bump in the center. there is a small hole on either side of the bump each with a ring through it for the suspension chain. The word "RUM" is incised in large letters in the center of the rectangle. The edge of the rectangle is outline in three beveled edges. on the back are four hall marks, the maker's mark "TW' in a rectangular cartouche. There is also the date stamp letter "G" in a square, a lion passant with a dip in the cartouche edge, and a very worn duty mark.
place: label: Place made
content: London, England
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: British colonialism
label: Topic
content: Commerce
label: Topic
content: Cooking and dining
label: Topic
content: Design
label: Topic
content: Economics
label: Topic
content: Slave trade
label: Topic
content: Slavery
label: Topic
content: Sugarcane
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Decorative Arts, Craft, and Design
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2020.32.3
objectType: label: Type
content: labels (identifying artifacts)
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: No Known Copyright Restrictions
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: silver
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 3 × 1 1/2 × 1/8 in. (7.6 × 3.8 × 0.3 cm)