This remarkable survival from the reign of Elizabeth I would appear to be one of the few remaining bell-salts left in private hands. A large number of salts were made from the late 15th century onwards, initially to hold the salt deemed necessary for everday eating. They were to become, however, equally important as a symbol of social standing and eventually became far larger than required.

The present example has the unusual feature of a finial formed as a caster for either pepper or spice. Another bell-salt of 1594 with a similar caster finial is in the Victoria and Albert Museum and illustrated in Michael Clayton, The Collectors' Dictionary of the Silver and Gold of Great Britain and North America, 1985, no. 435.