A lovely and highly sought-after oak and silver plate butter dish in the form of a coopered pail or bucket with a fabulous figural lid with the model of a Cow to the top.
The dish has the original removable ceramic liner, which is marked with a cupid over the motto Semper Paratus.
The silver plate is marked with a cupid in a shield, along with the model number 1619 for the well renowned Birmingham company of John Grinsell & Sons with the cupid on a scroll registered in 1879. Their factory was at Victoria Works, 57 Tower Street, St. George's and they also had showrooms in Charterhouse Street, Holborn Circus, London and West Nile Street, Glasgow.
Grinsells were also silversmiths but offered a large line of items that combined electro plated mounts on oak with ceramic liners. They termed the items British Oak Work. Circa 1890/1900.
Excellent conditon measuring 6 1/2" in diameter x 4" tall. Used for many decades in a hotel on the Orkney Islands.