Vintage Silver Plated Wine Cooler with Grape Vine Rim

A Bacchanalian Necklace for Your Bubbles

Some wine coolers are content to just stand there and sweat. Not this one. A garland of plump grape clusters and veined vine leaves tumbles around her rim like a Bacchanalian necklace. Little tendrils curl up over the edge as if the vine is trying to peek inside (we don’t blame it). Below, a sleek body flares out to meet the garland, then narrows to a stepped, footed base. Clean lines at the bottom, a party at the top.

The grape-and-vine border is an old flirtation in silver. Regency Sheffield coolers wore it back in the 1820s. This vintage beauty, made in the 1960s-1970s, takes up the same story with a lighter, more modern hand. Give her a polish and she gleams like a mirror ball. Leave her be and she settles into a soft, lived-in glow. Either way, she does wonders with candlelight.

She’s made for one bottle of something chilled: Champagne, Chablis, or a cheeky pét-nat. Off duty, she’s just as happy. Fill her with garden roses on the sideboard, give her a fistful of hydrangeas in the hall, or let her corral corkscrews and linen napkins on the bar cart. Santé!

Unmarked, as so many vintage pieces are, with honest signs of use and some wear to the plating beneath the foot (the part only the tablecloth ever sees).

A little note on silver plate
Silver plate is the clever cousin of solid silver: a sturdy base metal dressed in a fine coat of real silver. It gives you all the glamour and gleam at a far friendlier price (and leaves more in the budget for Champagne). The one thing to know is that the silver layer is a dress, not a skin, so treat it kindly. After a party, rinse your cooler with warm water and a drop of mild soap, then dry it straight away with a soft cloth. No dishwasher, no scouring pads, and only the occasional gentle polish when she starts looking a bit sleepy. Too much enthusiastic rubbing slowly wears the silver away. Treat her well and she’ll keep chilling, sparkling, and stealing the show at your table for decades to come!

A little note on photographing silver
Silver is a diva in front of the camera. It reflects everything: the room, the lights, and, if we're not careful, our surprised faces staring back at us (not the look we're going for). To keep the attention on the piece, we shoot with large screens around it to control the reflections. But all that shine has one side effect: fine scratches, small nicks, and gentle signs of wear can hide in the glare and be hard to see in the photos. We always do our very best to show every piece as honestly as possible. Before anything leaves us, we polish it by hand, so what arrives at your door is always a beautiful, weighty piece with the soft patina of an object that has been used for decades and is still loved today!