A salt cellar (also called salt or standing salt) is a vessel, usually small and made of glass or silver, used on the table for holding salt. An individual salt dish or squat open salt cellar placed near a trencher was called a trencher salt. The use of salt cellars continued through the 1940s but has been in decline since, gradually replaced by salt shakers.

The exterior surfaces of modern cellars are frequently decorated with birds, lemons or other designs, and may have

the word "salt" or "S" on them in various languages. A salt cellar often has a lid to protect the contents and keep it dry. The lid may be made of the same material as the cellar, or a different one (for example, a porcelain cellar with a wooden lid). Some salt cellars, also known as salt dips, open salts, and salt dishes, are not true cellars at all, but open dishes, without lids. These were used by wealthy families from the Middle Ages until WW II. The bowl, along with a miniature salt spoon, was passed to guests by the head of the household for

individual service.It is still possible to find salt cellars today, but they are not used as table decorations. They have lids and are used near the stove so the cook has easy access to salt while preparing meals. These are less likely to be elaborately decorated, and may have a range of designs for ease of use. For example, a salt cellar with a high back containing a hole allows the cellar to be mounted to a wall. Another style is a container shaped like a curved tube. The curvature protects the salt a little, but the cellar is open allowing the cook to reach in and take salt. Salt cellars used to be made of glass, but in recent times can be found in many different media, including porcelain, pewter, silver and wood.Sometime after 1950, slt cellars became a coveted collectible.

In ancient times salt was a precious commodity. Roman legionaries were sometimes paid in salt, the origin of the word salary. In Tibet, according to Marco Polo, cakes of salt displayed a likeness of the ruler and were used as money.In ancient Greece, slaves were traded for salt and over 2000 years before the birth of Christ, the Chinese emperor levied a salt tax. Not only was this the first salt tax, it was first tax of any kind.
During the Middle Ages, when salt was a valuable commodity, salt would be kept on the