Deakin & Francis | Sterling Silver Mustard Pot | Birmingham | 1938

Deakin & Francis | Sterling Silver Mustard Pot | Birmingham | 1938

Mustard had its own place at the English table: a small silver pot, a fitted lid, and a notch left open for the spoon.

With a business history tracing back to 1786, Deakin & Francis became an established name in Birmingham silver. In the interwar years the firm made a steady line of table silver, including condiment pieces like this one, which were usually sold as part of a cruet: a mustard pot with a matching pair of salts.

The pot is drum-shaped, with reeded bands at the shoulder and above a spreading reeded foot. The gently domed lid has a reeded rim, a turned finial and a notch for the mustard spoon, and it is hinged to the top of a scroll handle. The body is fully hallmarked for Deakin & Francis, Birmingham, and the lid is part-marked. The interior is plain silver; no glass liner is present.

The pot is in very good condition, with no dents. The hinge is firm.

Key Details

• Maker: Deakin & Francis
• Hallmarks: Birmingham, date letter O; attributed to 1938–39; lid part-marked
• Form: drum mustard pot with hinged lid, spoon notch and scroll handle
• Material: sterling silver
• Liner: none; plain silver interior
• Dimensions: length 7.3 cm (including handle); width 5.5 cm; height 5.3 cm
• Weight: 60 g
• Condition: very good
• Companion pieces: a matching pair of Deakin & Francis open salts, Birmingham 1938, believed to have formed part of the same cruet set, is available separately
• Buyer profile: collectors of English condiment silver, or anyone reassembling a 1930s cruet

Collector Appeal

Single mustard pots are common. One that can be offered alongside a matching pair of salts by the same maker, with the same marks, is much less so. The Deakin & Francis marks are clear and well struck, and the plain drum form with reeded bands sits comfortably beside both earlier and later table silver.

Sets are scattered by inheritance far more often than by accident; a piece that may still find its companions is rarer than it looks.