This mouth blown crystal salad bowl with handmade hallmarked sterling silver base is the epitome of the skills of both the silversmith and glassblower. It will enhance your dining experience and impress your family and friends.

Craftsmanship of any kind can be interesting and as such a brief description follows: This bowl has 2 constituent parts, a crystal bowl and a silver base. First the crystal bowls are blown for us by Dartington Crystal in the traditional way by collecting 'gob' of molten crystal on to the end of the blowing iron and beginning with blowing by mouth. Once a bubble has begun to form it is placed into a carbon mould which is being sprayed with water whilst rotating. The water creates steam which forms a cushion or layer between the molten crystal and the mould minimizing moulding marks. Occasionally the item will need a reheat to make it malleable again. The furnace used for this is called a 'glory hole'. After completion, checking and subsequent cooling it is placed in a 'lair' which is a furnace with a conveyor belt where the items just blown are reheated for several hours and allowed to cool slowly. Without this reheating process the item would be brittle and shatter on the first impact. Following this stage the item still has the top of its bubble 'moiled' intact. This is now cut off; the edge polished and is now complete.

The silver base is made by the metal 'spinning' method. Spinning is an ancient method that is still suitable today for the making of round hollow objects from sheet material in relatively small quantities. It involves taking a disc of sheet material, in this case silver, and coaxing it (while it spins rapidly) over a preformed chuck or former, screwed on to a spinning lathe and using a polished steel 'burnisher' with a long wooden handle which is held against the body and under the arm of the spinner/silversmith to provide push.

Because the crystal will vary slightly in size each base will need to be adjusted to ensure a snug fit. They are then numbered to ensure they are matched back together.

At this stage in the making the item is sent to the London Assay Office for testing of each and every component. Only if all the components prove to be better than 92.5% are the hallmarks punched into the surface while being supported on a steel stake. The English hallmarking system is one of the oldest and best forms of consumer protection and dates back to the 1400s.

The item is then returned to the silversmith's workshop where it is polished using 4 grades of compound to remove all the spinning lines, file marks, blemishes and scrape marks caused by the Assay Office tests. The bases are then ultrasonically cleaned and fitted to the correct crystal bowls and packed into presentation boxes.

An essential accessory from the luxury J A Campbell 'Appetite' collection. This salad bowl can contain enough salad to feed 8 hungry people. It has a set of contemporary silver salad servers that add a matching and finishing touch.

Other items which would further enhance your table are the sterling silver oil & vinegar cruet or the salt & pepper mill cruet and a pair of sterling silver candlesticks from the same collection. These are just a few suggestions for the discerning fine diner.

The 'appetite' collection was conceived some 20 years ago and my family and I have enjoyed countless hours sat around the dining table, enjoying food, wine, the ambiance and our own company with just a few pieces from the 'appetite' collection. It is always a pleasure to look at and use.

The occasional polish, which is all silver really needs, is in itself a pleasure, building that touchy feely relationship with your silver.

The perfect silver present for any occasion, this sterling silver salad bowl is suitable to be engraved on either the silver base or the crystal.

In the unlikely event of damage JA Campbell provide a repair service. The crystal bowl can be replaced, or supplied with a spare bowl.

You can be assured that all J A Campbell products are made up to a standard not down to a price. Nothing leaves the Brentwood workshop until Master Silversmith John Campbell is completely satisfied.