Oriental Gold Tea Leaf (Salt?) Bowls

I recently picked up the following items from an estate sale (along with a host of other items). I threw it in last minute because I thought it looked intriguing to put on an antique desk I have.

Judging by the look, I think they are tea leaf bowls and spoons but I could be wrong. The bowls themselves are quite heavy and as you can see the glass is removable. There are no other distinguishing markings I can see other than the ones I posted. I put the chapstick in a picture to give some perspective.

Can anyone dephicer the marketing on the bottom on the bowl and inside the box? Any idea is these are actually old or just a gift shop item?

I can provide other pictures if needed. I have no idea if these are valuable or not, but I'd like to find out any information I can. Thank you in advance! Jon

 

I'm almost certain that these are actually salt-cellars. The spoons are for helping yourself to the salt. The blue glass liners (a distinctive part of salt-cellars) is to prevent the salt from scratching/corroding the metal underneath.

I have seen a few antique silver salt-cellars where someone continued to use them after the liners were broken/lost - the corrosion is real.

 

Oh wow, interesting. Perhaps I should see if I can change the thread title. And that does make sense given how small the spoon are and the glass container. I appreciate the prompt.

 

Salt-cellars which were gilt (fire-plated in gold) were safe to use without glass liners (gold is inert so the salt doesn't act on it), but plain silver salt-cellars corrode when in contact with salt, hence the glass bowls.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about. Salt cellar with missing glass insert. Someone kept putting salt in it...



See all the ugly black marks? That's where the salt's burned into the silver. I've seen one at a flea-market which was even worse than this.

 

These are modern silverplate reproduction salts and spoons by Corbell & Co.

~Cheryl

 

Thank you Cheryl. Knowing that they are indeed salt bowls, I was also able to determine they were manufactured by Corbell and Co. They aren't as modern as you would think though. Corbell and Co. Was establish in London in 1946 and this was a product produced in England (based on the style of markings) before they moved to the US in the early 1950s. So it is safe to assume to they produced between 1946-1951, while not antique by any means, still substantially older than I am

Thank you all for the responses, it appears the mystery of this bowls has been solved.

 

Am quite familiar with this company, though originally based in England, their early production was made in Japan, and the bulk is still made in countries other than England or the U.S. - they are still in business...

http://store.corbellsilver.com

~Cheryl