Ceramic owl-shaped salt shakers: rare 19th-century items

An owl of naturalistic form and painted on a domed base. Height: 4 1/4 inches (10.8 cm). Another porcelain sand shaker, made by the Kuznetsov Porcelain Factory, Tver, mid-19th century. A stylized owl on a bright base, the underside fitted with a cork stopper, with a blue factory mark. Height: 5 1/8 inches (13 cm). In the 19th century, documents were sprinkled with powder or sand to speed up the drying of ink and prevent smudging. Sand shakers usually contained powdered gum sandarac, fine sand, although coarser sand could also be used. For information on sand shakers, see Joe Nickell, "Pen, Ink, and Evidence" (Newcastle, 2003).