Unrecorded auction catalogue for the ‘stock in trade’ - sherry, port, ‘coniac brandy’, rum and gin - from a recently deceased St Albans wine merchant, annotated by the auctioneer with the prices achieved.
The printed catalogue is octavo size (21x13cm), made up of two bifolia loosely inserted to make 8 printed pages. There is soiling to the outer leaves which have been roughly opened. The title page is followed by the ‘Conditions of Sale’ printed overleaf, and 7 pages of the Catalogue which proceeds by room from the kitchen via the parlour to bedrooms and most interestingly 3 final pages of Wines, lotted by bin and then a sequence of empty casks. So, Lot 92 is ‘One dozen of Lisbon’ which made 2 pounds 2 shillings while Lot ‘83 Two dozen of fine old port and bottles at [blank filled in ‘50/’] per dozen’ made £5. The catalogue has been annotated by the auctioneer throughout with prices in ink, cumulative values and a final reckoning. Accompanying the printed catalogue is a single bifolium with one, soiled leaf of manuscript which offers an ‘Inventory of the Effects of Mr. Charles Williams of St Albans not included in the printed Catalogue of Sale. 10th December 1812’ - written therefore the day after the public auction. This adds several household items as well as ‘21 Bottles of Currant Wine in 2 Tea Canisters’. A final reckoning appears at the bottom of the page.
We can find no trace of Charles Williams’ wine business though no doubt trade registers for St Albans would locate him. From 1570 onwards St Albans had a novel wine licensing system that gave power to the corporation to licence two resident vintners to sell wine in the town in return for an annual payment which funded the town’s schoolmaster. Given the substantial business revealed in his posthumous sale catalogue Williams must be assumed to have possessed one of these coveted licenses.
