Antique silver partridge pepper pot

Good quality, novelty, antique silver pepper pot in the form of a partridge with a screw-off removable top.

From the late 18th century and into the 20th, there was a high tax on luxury goods imported into Britain, but if an item could be classified as a useful piece it could be brought into the country without duty. Silver animal and bird models were often made with removable heads so they could be described as containers or boxes.

This German-made, silver model partridge has been further adapted with holes pierced in his head so he can be used as a pepper pot and the hallmark shows that it was imported and assayed in Chester in 1908.

Berthold Müller, an agent in London and Chester, was the most notable importer of German silverware and enjoyed a long and successful business relationship with Neresheimer & Co, a noteworthy and prolific silver manufacturer in Hanau, Germany. Like Neresheimer, a large number of Hanau silversmiths produced silver objects for export to England and the USA.