Pair of Late Victorian Cranberry and Uranium Glass Salts with Original Stands

This is a handsome pair of high-quality glass salts with their original electroplated stands, dating to around 1870.

Each salt is made from a short, thickened cranberry glass bowl which is roughly cylindrical in shape. The base is plain with a broad polished pontil.

It is decorated at the rim with a ring of crimped flint (clear) glass lobes surmounting an identical crimped ring of yellow glass lobes. The yellow glass contains uranium, which makes it fluoresce under ultraviolet light.

Each salt retains the original metal stand, which is made from a flattened round disc with a milled edge. This stands on three feet, and the glass liner sits within the central hole.

The underside of each stand is marked with a shield emblem and the letters ‘M H & Co’. This stands for Martin, Hall & Co (Ltd), who were silversmiths and electroplate manufacturers based in Sheffield. There are also the marks ‘EPGS’, which stands for ‘Electro-Plated German Silver’ and the number ‘5519’, which may be a pattern number.

It is unusual to find these salts with their original stands, and they invariably become separated over time.

Each glass salt has a maximum height (including the stand) of approximately 3.2cm and without the stand of 2.7cm. It has a diameter across the rim of about 6.0cm, and the stand has a maximum diameter of 7.1cm.

They have an unwrapped weight of 190g.

They are in excellent condition, with one minor blemish in the glass at the base. This may be a burst bubble and piece of frit, or it may be a minute chip, but it is very small and hard to discern. The stands have wear that you would expect to see on plated items of this age, with some marks on the upper surfaces. Where the feet are attached to the upper ring it is a little untidy (see photos) but this is fairly standard.