Featured Tiny Indian Silver bowl

Good Day

For some time now I have been admiring a small, heavily decorated, bowl at the stall at one of our antique fairs. It is about 4cm in diameter and about 3cm high, decorated with what I take to be repousse work, and it has a blank shield in which a monogram might be engraved. It has no lid. I can't post photos because it is not mine and I have none.

The dealer says it tests positive for silver and that he has been told by a person who is knowledgable about Indian silver that not all Indian silver has an assay mark. He believes it to be a betel nut bowl.

Are there any collectors or dealers in Indian silver who can confirm that not all of it bears marks? Is there such a thing as a betel nut bowl? And how are they used? If not, what could be the purpose of such a tiny bowl? For some reason the fact that it has a shield for a monogram makes me uneasy. Any further informed and wise advice on Indian silver would be appreciated.

Thank you.
Michael

 

Most Indian colonial silver is unmarked. You have to have seen a bit to recognise it, or have a look at online images. Yours sounds more like an open salt: the shield simply means that whoever bought it never got round to monogramming it. If yours is ornately worked, embossed, repousse, whatever with motifs that speak to India, then it's probably the real thing. Tends to be lots of scrolls and curlicues.

 

I collect small Anglo-Indian silver objects and jewellery, and can confirm that most of it isn't marked.
The shield you mentioned means it is Anglo-Indian, so made for the colonial and overseas markets. I agree with obb that it sounds like it is a salt cellar.

 

Here is some info on Indian silver, including the different styles, so you can see if it is like the one you saw:
https://www.pushkinantiques.com/indian-silver-full-article

 

If it's just a tiny thing why not pick it up anyway ..probably it doesn't cost very much, right?
Even if it isn't what it's purported to be it will make a good study piece and show you what NOT to buy next time ..and if it is OK, same advantage - knowledge.

 

Thank you for this link. I don't have access to the piece but if my memory serves me correctly it seems very much in the Karatchi-Kutch style.

 

I'm trying to be more discriminating in what I buy. It has to be put somewhere, and I'm very short on space, and I have realised that the relatively small amounts we fritter away without thinking much about it actually add up and could often be accumulated and used to a better purpose.

 

Thank you for your input.

 

Thank you for your advice.

 

Hindsight is always 20/20..!

 

In that case it was probably something like this, a salt cellar of the same size, but no shield or escutcheon. It has the same design all around. The tops of the legs are decorated like leaves.

 

Similar, but the pattern was, I think, smaller. It had the same stippled work between the raised parts.

Your salt dish is very pretty.

 

Thank you, Silver.