Help needed to date a bottle

[Alex Bridgeman]

I opened a bottle tonight of Noval LB port. This being a Reserve Ruby, I have no way of dating the bottle other than from the stencilling, which says that the bottle was imported by Rutherford Osbone & Perkin Ltd, London SW1V 4TG.

Rutherford Osborne & Perkin was dissolved as a company on December 1995, which realistically means that they would have stopped importing 1-2 years before their dissolution.

Does anyone know when the London SW1 postcode was subdivided into the smaller districts - ie when did SW1 become SW1V?

Also, does anyone know when Noval stopped using their patented "Drip free bottle lip" on their bottles? This bottle has such a lip.

[g-man]

I opened a bottle tonight of Noval LB port. This being a Reserve Ruby, I have no way of dating the bottle other than from the stencilling, which says that the bottle was imported by Rutherford Osbone & Perkin Ltd, London SW1V 4TG.

Rutherford Osborne & Perkin was dissolved as a company on December 1995, which realistically means that they would have stopped importing 1-2 years before their dissolution.

Does anyone know when the London SW1 postcode was subdivided into the smaller districts - ie when did SW1 become SW1V?

Also, does anyone know when Noval stopped using their patented "Drip free bottle lip" on their bottles? This bottle has such a lip.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_SW1#cite_note-1

according to wiki

SW1 started in the 1960s ... and there has not been any updates since 1990

did the noval taste like a tawny?

[uncle tom]

I did look into this a while back, for similar reasons.

My conclusion was that full postcodes did not generally appear on stationary much before 1972, and were not universally used until about 1976.

The first part of the postcode was in common use in London long before full postcodes appeared; I don't know the date of the change, but London was originally divided into seven (I think) postal areas - SE SW W NW N NE & E.

NE was subsequently shared between the N & E postcode areas, although a few old street name plates still survive with the legend.

These areas were then subdivided by the addition of a numeral suffix (when, I don't know) and became SW1 or N14 etc. These were then extended with a further letter and an alphanumeric second section when full postcodes were allocated. This happened around 1969, but there was then a lengthy struggle to get people to take them seriously.

Tom

[Alex Bridgeman]

SW1 was created in 1917, as a means of continuing to keep the post in London moving when the men who used to run the post offices were enlisted into the army.

But at some point in the second half of the 1900s, the more crowded of the numbered London districts were subdivided further through the addition of a letter after the number - hence SW1V. I cannot find when this happened and this would be a crucial earliest date for the age of the bottle I have been drinking (and enjoying).

And yes, it is deliciously tawny and really rather a nice glass of port to have in an evening.