Salt Shaker

The mystery revealed:-)  It's a shaker for fine table salt!  There's a conical hole at the bottom where you pour in the salt, which is then held in place by the steep sides of the cone.  The salt will only come out again if you shake the whole thing quite briskly.  It works a treat!

I was rather surprised to discover that a pottery dish I bought at the Perthshire Open Studios event in September 2013 was an almost perfect partner for my new salt shaker, as you can see from the pictures.  What a coincidence:-)

Well done to GailyWhaley who was closest in her guess - you do shake it a bit like maracas:-)