I just bought 2 labels from eBay. One was printed by a “W.S. Doty” and they seem to go together as a trio but unfortunately I was outbid on the one illustrated here.
I am presuming it is an English textile factory because of the spelling of the word “Colour” and the 2 large chimneys suggest the factory was running on steam rather than water. I am guessing from the look of the building that the label could be around 1820 but would love to have someone enlighten me as it is a very early example of a fabric label.
Maybe the typeface will help date it?
Unfortunately the seller won’t let me know the identity of the buyer, who may have bid high on it because they recognized the building.
The other 2 labels that were part of the trio are below and may help in determining the date
This is the view of Adam Daber, Curator of the Museum of Science and Indistry in Manchester, England
It’s not a mill that I recognise and is pretty unusual judging by the shape of the roof and the very small windows below the roof in the middle section – almost inferring that the two lower sections were extensions to the original building. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, so my deduction would be that someone was commissioned to make the ticket plate with no particular knowledge of textile mill architecture. But you are correct in deducing that this is a steam powered mill – or a conversion – evidenced by the engine house to the right and chimney beyond.
There was a phase where mills were built with Mansard roof designs, as per the 1818 extension at Quarry Bank incorporating the large waterwheel and its more modern successor, but the pitch of the roof was continuous rather than broken by a few courses of bricks, and the Mansard was designed to increase working space within the top floor roof space.
Generally, steam engines were only introduced successfully into cotton mills from the late 1780’s – Arkwright’s Shude Hill Mill in Manchester, built in 1781 as a steam powered mill, was unsuccessful in that the engine recycled water to the waterwheel, which then drove the machinery – so a loose date of 1790 – 1820 would seem fair.
This is the response from Daniel Smith, former Curator of the Bolton Museum
All I can say about the mill in the red ticket you didn’t get is that its very big for 1820s, and that would be a bit early for so many floors of steam powered machinery too. I’d put it a decade or more later. Really interesting set of though, the red and green ones remind me of bookplates. The shape of the mill is also interesting at the roof line – not exactly the lancashire pattern. Scotland might be a good intuition
