Bristol Old Vic silver tickets
Circular, silver token, engraved with text
The front of one of the tokens. Text reads "King Street, Bristol Theatre. May 30 1766"
MaterialSilver
WritingEnglish
Created1766, Bristol
Present locationUniversity of Bristol Theatre Collection (nine tokens), private collections, and unknown

The Bristol Old Vic silver tickets (also known as Bristol Old Vic theatre tokens) are silver tokens that were issued by the Bristol Old Vic theatre, allowing their owners unlimited free entry to shows. Fifty tickets were minted, and given to shareholders who each raised £50 to fund the construction of the theatre in 1766.[1][2][3][4]

Silver tickets

Circular silver token, with engraved writing in a cursive font, with lots of embelishments
Rear of one of the silver tokens, reading "No. 26. The Proprietor of this Ticket is Entitled to the Sight of Every Performance to be Exhibited in this House."

Fifty original tickets were minted, made from silver in 1766, and given to local proprietors who each gave the theatre £50 towards construction costs. Amongst the proprietors, there were local councillors, at least three Quakers, and two future Members of Parliament.[5] At the time of construction the theatre was known as the King Street, Bristol Theatre, as it did not have a Royal License to operate as a theatre under the Licensing Act 1737, and that is the name displayed on the tickets. Once a license was obtained in 1778, the theatre was renamed to the "Theatre Royal".[6]

The tickets read "No. {ticket number}. The Proprietor of this Ticket is Entitled to the Sight of Every Performance to be Exhibited in this House." The owners of the tickets insisted that they would be allowed to loan or sell the tickets, transferring the right to free attendance to the new ticket holder. This made it difficult for the theatre to track who should be allowed to see performances for free, and led to counterfeit tokens being produced.[7]

Golden tickets

Two special tokens, known as golden tickets or bearer tickets, were issued alongside the original silver tickets. They are similar to the other silver tickets, but are gilded in gold, unnumbered, and have 'bearer' written in place of 'proprietor'. They were given to cabinet maker Edward Crump and his wife Ann Crump, for "the great trouble and expense" they had gone through to convince the landowners to allow the construction of the theatre.[8][9]

Surviving tickets

Historians know of twenty surviving silver tickets, and one gold ticket.[8] However, very few have even been put up for auction.[1]

List of known surviving tickets
Ticket numberStatus
No. 2University of Bristol Theatre Collection[10]
No. 19Bristol Archives, on loan for display at the M Shed[11]
No. 26Photographed by the Bristol City Council Museum[12]
No. 35Sold at auction in 2023[2]
No. 37Bristol Archives[13]
Unnumbered golden ticketUniversity of Bristol Theatre Collection[8][9]

University of Bristol Theatre Collection

In 2015, four tickets, including one of the golden tickets, were donated to the University of Bristol Theatre Collection. These were donated by Geraldine Menez, granddaughter of Henry Augustine Forse, who was involved in the process of remodelling the theatre in 1902. These were added to five silver tickets already in the university collection.[8][9]

Auction of token no. 35

On 28 October 2023 one of the tokens, numbered 35, was auctioned off at Henry Aldridge & Sons auction house in Devizes, Wiltshire. Initial estimates put the value between £1,500 and £2,500,[1] but it sold for £9,200.[2]

250th anniversary tickets

In 2016, to mark the 250th anniversary of the theatre, new silver tickets were minted. They were sold for £50,000 each, to raise funds to redevelop the theatre.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Bristol Old Vic theatre token could still be valid after 257 years". BBC News. 28 October 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 "Bristol Old Vic theatre token from 1766 sold for £9k". BBC News. 29 October 2023.
  3. ↑ Glen, Allan (28 October 2023). "Bristol Old Vic vows to honour 1766 free-ticket token up for auction". The Guardian.
  4. ↑ Matthews, Brad (28 October 2023). "18th-century British theater token offering free shows for life auctioned off". The Washington Times.
  5. 1 2 "Bristol Old Vic Theatre marks 250th anniversary". BBC News. 30 May 2016.
  6. ↑ Moody, Jane. "Theatrical Geographies and the Birth of a National Stage". pp. 4–6. Archived from the original on 5 September 2006. Retrieved 19 April 2009.
  7. ↑ "Silver Ticket". Bristol Old Vic.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Old Vic silver tickets come home to Bristol". University of Bristol. 26 June 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 "Bristol Old Vic theatre tickets 'return home' to Bristol". BBC News. 28 June 2015.
  10. ↑ "The Secret Life of Objects" (PDF). University of Bristol Theatre Collection. Autumn 2023.
  11. ↑ "Silver Token No. 19, 1766". Bristol Archives.
  12. ↑ "Theatre token (back)". Port Cities Bristol.
  13. ↑ "Silver Token No. 37, 1766". Bristol Archives.
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