Cutting the mustard

Mustard has been used as a medicine and a spice for millennia. But exactly what sort of silver vessel was used to serve it at the medieval or Tudor table is uncertain.

Instead, the earliest surviving form of mustard pot is the blind caster that was used from c.1700 to dispense a dry mustard powder – probably the product known as ‘Durham mustard’ that was first marketed in the city by one Mrs Clements.

Only rarely do they appear for sale. However, one by the London silversmith Anthony Nelme dated 1722, is included in the remarkable collection that comes under the hammer at Anderson & Garland. The assemblage has been put together - mainly by purchasing through dealers at fairs - over the last 35 years by a vendor from the northeast.

The change from the dry to wet mustard that took place in the second half of the 18th century ushered in the mustard pot as it is known today. Most collectors begin here with the classic 'drum' form that first emerged in the late 1750s.

There are many examples of these. Many betray the influence of the neoclassical ‘Adam style’ while the introduction of a glass liners (that made the cleaning much easier) allowed for open-work containers contrasting fretwork with cobalt blue or clear glass.

By the Victorian era multiple styles existed side-by-side and the novelty was king. These are still particularly popular today and classic forms such as the Mr Punch by Robert Hennel and a long-eared owl by Edward Charles Brown carry some of the collection’s highest expectations.

Small collections of silver mustard pots are not too unusual, but specialist Alex Butcher believes the last dispersal of this size at auction was probably the sale of the Colman Foods collection at Christie’s South Kensington in 1993.

William IV mustard pot resembling a squash by Charles Fox, London 1836, estimate £250-300 at Anderson & Garland.

Victorian novelty mustard pot in the form of Mr. Punch smoking a pipe by Robert Hennell, London 1869, estimate £700-900 at Anderson & Garland.

The latest piece in the collection is this Elizabeth II silver mustard pot with a low-domed cover and a ring handle by Garrard & Co, London 1968, estimate £150-200 at Anderson & Garland.

Victorian novelty mustard pot in the form of a long-eared owl by EC Brown, London 1872, together with an unmarked, mouse terminal spoon, estimate £600-800 at Anderson & Garland.

Victorian Golden Jubilee mustard pot set with the coins of the realm for 1887 by Hilliard and Thomason, Birmingham 1888, estimate £250-300 at Anderson & Garland.

This large George III drum-shaped mustard pot by Thomas Nash, London 1773, has an aperture for the spoon cut out of the top rim rather than the edge of the lid. Estimate £250-300 at Anderson & Garland.

The earliest piece in the collection, this George I silver Britannia standard blind mustard caster by Anthony Nelme, London 1722, estimate £500-700 at Anderson & Garland.