Wow from me, too! What a great collection! Question... are most small open bowl-shaped items that don't have a groove for a cigarette probably salts?
Might have been for any number of purposes - for instance, the intaglios, like the pretty blue one in Johnny's post #18, were most likely originally intended as individual ashtrays, but salt collectors love them and have claimed them as their own. Similar little pieces might also be individual nut dishes, or crystal pomade jars with the rim ground down, or candle holders (conversely, I see some nice old salts offered as votive holders), some were intended for saccharine, or as tiddly-wink cups. Some of her swans may well have been pincushions or holders for small scent bottles, and novelty miniatures, as well as tiny children's dishes, show up in salt collections. Sometimes they were marketed for multiple uses, I have a set of celluloid Viking ship salts & spoons in original box, the text suggesting, "For Individual Table Service of Salt, Nuts, Mints, Mustard, Relishes, and Sauces". Mom has several Viking-themed salt spoons that I don't have, but aside from one duplicate, I selfishly keep the Viking ship salts for myself... ~Cheryl
Thanks Greg and Susie. Those are all Scandinavian silver except for the one at top right, it's silverplate, the horn pepperette belongs with the cobalt lined salt. Another forum has an ongoing thread on 'great faces in silver', these are some close-ups of the heads I posted there: ~Cheryl
Cheryl, thanks so much for the info! Was the multi-purpose use of these small items as true with EAPG items as later on?
If you're asking about them being marketed for different purposes, the suggestions of alternate uses was most likely a later response to their dwindling use. If just regarding similar small EAPG pieces produced for other uses, right off hand, can only think of the previously mentioned toy dishes, and there were some small (around 3"), shallow nappies... ~Cheryl
Sorry I wasn't clear. Yup, I was thinking of the original intended use of EAPG items like these and how they were marketed.