Viking ship salt cellars

Pewter with no shields
The round shields along the sides of a viking ship are a nearly universal design element.  At first I thought it was unusual to see viking ship salts without this feature, but I've discovered that there are a fair number of pewter ones without shields.

Pewter, no shields, ship number 1

This ship is listed in H&J as #4257, in the 'Sterling & Plated Figurals' category, although it is neither sterling nor plated - it is solid pewter.  Sitting right next to this ship in H&J is something (possibly a spoon) that looks like the prow of a ship, although H&J does not mention a spoon in the description.

The bowl is round (the scan only makes it appear flat-sided), something unusual in 'viking ship' salt designs.  The bowl diameter at the rim is 1 7/8 inches (47.5 mm.).  The height at the rim of the bowl is just under 7/8 inches (21.5 mm.), and the height at the highest point of a dragon's head is 1 ¾ inches (44 mm.).

This shows the top view of the ship a little better.
This is a close-up of one of the dragon heads.  Much of the dark areas can be cleaned off; however, I left it in this condition so more detail could be seen.  Each dragon head is a separate piece that has been attached (welded?) to the salt bowl.
This is the makers mark stamped into the underside of the ship.  It reads "PEWTER" and "MADE IN NORWAY".  In the center, inside a circle, is an 'a' with a dot underneath it, and an 'h'.  This may be the mark for Arne Haugrud of Tønsberg, Norway;or the mark of a company called Andresen and Holmsen, of Sandefjord, Norway.
This is the front of the spoon that came with this ship.  It measures 2¾ inches (70 mm.) in length.
This is a closeup of the design on the front of the spoon.  The top and bottom of the design show the fletching and arrowhead (respectively) of an arrow.  No significance that I know of, I just thought it was kind of cool.
This is the reverse of the spoon.  It is stamped with the same makers mark that is on the underside of the ship.
Pewter, no shields, ship number 2

This art-deco style viking ship salt is listed in H&J as #4264, in the 'Sterling & Plated Figurals' section, although it is neither sterling nor plated - it is solid pewter.  H&J does not show or mention a spoon with this ship.

This ship measures just under ½ inch (12 mm.) high to the lowest part of the ship, 1¾ inches (46 mm.) to the highest point of one end, and just over 1¾ inches (45 mm.) to the highest point of the other end.  Because pewter is a soft metal, and easily bent, I cannot say if the prow and stern ends were originally two different heights or not.  The length at the longest point is 2 9/16 inches (65 mm.).

This is the mark on the underside of the ship.  In raised lettering, it says "TPB", "TINN", and "HÅNDSTØPT".  I do not know what the 'TPB' stands for.
This is the front of the spoon that came with this ship.  Notice that the same design elements used for the prow and stern of the ship are duplicated in the spoon's handle.  This spoon measures 1 15/16 inches (49 mm.) long.
This is the reverse of the spoon.
This is a closeup of the reverse of the bowl of the spoon.  You can faintly see the mark of "TPB" in raised lettering.
Pewter, no shields, ship number 3 - no picture yet
This is a double-salt version of the pewter no-shield ship number 1.  There are two bowls side by side, with one dragon head at the end of each.
Pewter, no shields, ship number 4- no picture yet
I can't quite make out the design of the dragon heads on this ship, but they appear to be very stylized.  There is a rope-like design along the rim of the ship that appears to loosely 'knot' or overlap at the center.
No picture yet
This is the mark on the underside of this ship, it reads "HÅNDSTØPT", "TPB", "TINN", and possibly another word that I cannot make out, the markings look to be raised lettering.  The bottom of this ship appears to be circular, instead of oval as most of the others are.
Pewter, no shields, ship number 5
Although there are not actual shields on this ship, it does have a design along the rim of the side, which includes three circular designs at the center of the side.  This ship also has the word "NORGE", in raised lettering on the middle of one side of the ship.  The dragon heads are exactly like the ones on several ships, including pewter 5-shield ship #1.
These are the markings on the underside of this ship.  In raised lettering, it reads "TPB", "TINN", and "HÅNDSTØPT".
Variation 1 - no picture yet
At least one ship has been seen with something different on the side, although I couldn't make out the word from the picture I saw.  It has the same 'three-circle' design along the rim.
 
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