SIX,FIVE,FOUR,THREE

It's not very often that I have four antique spice towers in stock, particularly all of different sizes, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to look at their differences. As with most things there is more to look at then you might first realise.

Size- reputedly these antique spice towers were made from a two tier up to ten tiers high. The tallest I have seen is a six and they are quite rare. The first image shows a six tier quite alot bigger than the others, it has a wider diameter , I guess for stability, much taller than this and the tower would be unstable. Each antique spice tower varies slightly in size, so if you were to look at several four tier spice towers they would have different diameters, different depths to each spice container. Notice in image one that the five tier spice tower is only just slightly bigger than the four, but that the six is much taller than the five.

Labels - a label is a label surely but look at how the spice labels vary from a plain typeface, straight, small label in image 2 to a curved label with a leaf decoration to the top in image 3 to a much more scrolled shape in image 4. The scroll labels are thought to be from the early 19th century and the straight ones later, but I remain unconvinced on this point.

Image 5 shows the antique five tier spice towers base where interestingly you can see originally it would have been screwed to a dresser or counter to prevent it be stolen quite so easily. Some spices remember were expensive.

Lids on antique spice towers also vary some are domed, some are flat, some have a reeded edge some are deep, some are plain and some have turning to the lid.

These antique spice towers were and still are a great design, space saving, decorative and they do the job they were intended to keeping spices air tight out of light and dry. Great turned pieces of antique treen.

For current stock click http://www.opusantiques.co.uk/antique-spice-tower.html