At Buckinghamshire County Museum, we are inputting our accession
registers, and back in 1913 someone gave us a silver balsamena from
Malta.  In the intervening years, it's surely become one of the numerous
objects which no longer have their numbers securely attached.
 
But we've no idea what a Balsamena _is_?  Top of the pole so far is a
kind of vinaigrette (the bottle, not the carraige).  The OED has failed
us ... can you help?
--
Pat Reynolds
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Keeper of Social History, Buckinghamshire County Museum
   "It might look a bit messy now, but just you come back in 500 years time"
   (T. Prattchet)