Edward Souter Barnsley | Sterling Silver Mustard Pot | Bristol Blue Glass Liner | Birmingham 1910 | George V
Mustard could stain silver, so the silversmith lined the pot with glass and kept the silver for what the hand and the eye would meet.
Prepared mustard was mixed and served wet, and because it could stain or tarnish silver, silver mustard pots were fitted with removable glass liners, often of deep cobalt-blue glass, traditionally described as Bristol blue. The notch in the lid lets a mustard spoon stay in the pot with the lid closed. The plain cylindrical "drum" form with reeded borders, a shell thumbpiece and a scroll handle draws on the drum-form mustard pots established in Georgian silver during the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and Birmingham makers were still producing it in the early twentieth.
This pot was made by E. S. Barnsley & Co. of Frederick Street, Birmingham, the firm of Edward Souter Barnsley, who registered his E.S.B mark at the Birmingham Assay Office in 1887. It is hallmarked Birmingham 1910 — the date-letter year that began in July 1910, two months after the death of Edward VII, placing it in the first year of George V's reign.
The body is a plain polished cylinder with reeded bands at the rim and foot. The flat hinged lid has a reeded edge and a spoon notch, and is lifted by a cast double-shell thumbpiece above the hinge. The reeded scroll handle ends in a curled terminal at the base. The original removable cobalt-blue glass liner fits closely inside the body. The hallmarks — E.S.B, the anchor for Birmingham, the lion passant and the date letter — are struck on the base, with part marks inside the lid.
There are no dents, splits, repairs or restoration to the silver. The glass liner is intact and undamaged.
Key Details
- Maker: E. S. Barnsley & Co. (Edward Souter Barnsley), Birmingham
- Material: Sterling silver, with original removable Bristol blue glass liner
- Form: Drum mustard pot with hinged lid, spoon notch and scroll handle
- Hallmarks: E.S.B maker's mark | Birmingham anchor | lion passant | date letter for 1910 | part marks inside lid
- Period: George V
- Silver weight: 68g
- Glass liner weight: 69g
- Dimensions: 7.3cm W including handle × 6.2cm H
- Condition: Excellent — no dents, splits or repairs; liner intact
Collector Appeal
A complete drum mustard pot in the Georgian manner by a recorded Birmingham maker, with its blue glass liner, hinged lid and spoon notch all present. The plain body leaves the reeded borders, the double-shell thumbpiece and the curl of the handle to do the work.
Made in the first months of a new reign, it looks back a hundred years to an older one.
