Anyone know anything about these snuff boxes? Is this really a snuff box? I’ve been seeing on ebay and some are quite expensive, so I found this one in a very bad condition and I’m thinking about buying and try to restore. It appears to be from Belgium. Is it a good idea?

It’s cute! I would call it a novelty though if you do get it then we all will want one. I don’t think I’d want it in my pocket though. Get it! This is how I discovered which boxes and bottles were to my liking. I bought some cheaper ones of all kinds after which I could make informed choices on getting some good ones. It certainly looks like a real snuff box of that type.

It has an openable lid? What size it is? (essential information to tell you if it is a snuff box or not). However it is a “sabot” a type of shoe that was very common in some countries of central Europe, especially in France, Belgium, Holland. There are many on eBay. If you like the shoe shaped snuff boxes , I recommend those made of papier mache that are cute and often have low prices.

I’ve seen a bunch of them in ebay, they are women’s snuff boxes ( women love their shoes) and are therefore antique because they were made in days of lore when women used snuff.

It is a little big to carry in pocket, I’m thinking of using as a desktop snuff box. The size is 13x5cm and the lid is openable.

Ok, it is definitely a snuff box. If you like it, buy it! But be careful, it may be difficult to stop buying snuff boxes! Keep in mind, however, that wood is not one of the best materials to store snuff. So if you think of use it, remember this.

Thank you! I think I’ll buy it so…

I have a couple desk top snuff boxes that are not airtight. I fill them with American Scotch snuff for no problems. The thing about table top boxes is that you are going to want to be able to use them with one hand. I suppose you could set that one on a base…or use both hands. It does look like it could get knocked over fairly easily.

A friend of mine had a shoe fetish. long since passed away. He was a great chess opponent, And outstanding guitarist.

I wonder who used to own it. I personaly want an undertakers snuffbox. One of the ones with the skull and cross bones and shaped like a casket.

If I was to restore it I would glue rubber to the underside of the lid and put magnets in the closer end grain .Also I would rap the tip of the shoe in silver to give it a western cowboy look and stain it jet black with 3 or more coats of polyurethane

The Magnets are a great idea! I had thought about put something in the tip, but I do not know if will be a good idea…

It is an antique object and it’s great for that, I personally would not change it. Nor with magnets, nor any thing to the tip. And then what would be the use magnets? Is a snuff desktop…

Just to seal better. But maybe the lid seal by itself…

Magnets keep the lid shut in case it gets knocked off the table. I use my antiques, if I just wanted to display them I would open a museum. Objects are intended to be used, it is a functional piece of art, I am sure if it wasn’t rescued from auction, it be in a land fill. Change it any way you like it is your property Enjoy

I wonder how rare these are. It seems like a pretty common type of snuff box. @basement_shaman you’ll probably find this a little annoying. The person who convinced me to get back into snuff is a tobacco researcher who is very anti-tobacco (though he suggests smokers should switch to snuff since it’s infinatily safer, in fact his problem with snuff is it’s addictive [yeah he’s got the same thing against caffine so…]. But that person (and this is the annoying part) has an extensive collection of chinesse snuff bottles some very rare and expensive.

@bob I avoid made in china if I can.Good for him those bottles are useless for snuff any how ,I hope he buys all of them I am sick of looking over 500 snuff bottles on my e-bay searches to find an interesting box

I agree. His collection is all antique. So I guess even if they were made with slavery or under unfair conditions, the people involved would be dead at this point anyways. I’am glad though that you have awareness about slavery. Lots of people actualy believe it’s gone, well personaly I think it’s should be one of the worlds biggests fights. I also want to add that National Geographic did a really eye opening article about slavery. Sorry to get derpressing but it’s in a large part people who traffic in slavery do less jail time then drug dealers. That seems way wrong to me. If I can think of one thing that should have a very stiff penality it’s slavery.

@basement_shaman I use my antiques too. I have 4 shoe snuff boxes and i use them as they are, I do not modernized them to make them more functional. In my opinion if someone wants a functional snuff box, do not buy an old shoe snuff box. It is like buying an antique classic car and add technology (if it does, it does so as they would have done at that time) or making changes to improve it, would be a contradiction. However, the world is beautiful because it is varied and everyone does as he thinks better.

@OldBigWagon to each their own. I bought an old farm house ,I rip off the plaster and old wiring put in new wiring, insulation ,fresh drywall,new windows up dated the kitchen counter tops fixtures and appliances . ripped up the flooring tore out the 6’ft6" doors and replaced them with 6’8" doors.next on the list is the bath ,I am putting in a whirlpool tub new vanity high hat lighting exhaust fans ,tall oblong toilet, grab bars. heated floor and new tile flooring. If I get around to it I am going to put sky lights through the roof. I had many classic cars and the first thing to go was the AM radio;Modern stereo system, preamps , speaker system and alarms were also installed along with new seat belt system. If I am going to use it ,it better fit my needs. I have no intention of selling. Sorry if you feel different ,sometime you have to roll with the changes.

I live in an ancient palace of 1700s, I have the vaulted ceilings with frescoes and large crystal chandeliers, I took it off the floor, I put the heating/cooling floor and I put over the old pavimetacion. A few years ago, I completely renovated the house respecting its ancient nature but I have all the modern comforts (including whirlpool in an old bathtub) included in a noninvasive way because I live in the house and it is obvious that it must be functional. Up to 2 years ago I have collected old classic cars (at the time i have only 3) and also I the first thing I did after the restoration (if necessary) was put on the stereo but I put only stereo period not to altering the style of the car. I do however use modern connecting my iphone and listening to music on mp3. if I want comfort, I use my modern BMW with preamplifier, air conditioning etc… I imagine we both love old things but we have a different philosophy in doing this, as you say, to each his own. I’m sorry for my bad english but this is not my language, I hope to have written understandable things. :-/ I think we went a bit OT

why does the foreigners who apologizes for they’re bad english always haves better english then us americans?

Not so OT as these philosophies do apply to the box in question.

So guys, here it is, I think it’s done! Thank you for the advices!

Nice! I think I see some inscriptions on the shoe…

The lower one says “DE BRUXELLES” I guess The upper one probably “SOUVENIR”

Exactly! Souvenir de Bruxelles.

Very nice! That is a good find. It’s hard to tell the size of it without a reference but it looks like it WOULD make a good pocket box.

Actually, it is big to use as a pocket box:

That is like 5 inches long and two inches wide. Nice job getting the paint drips off.