I have my eye on a small silver snuffbox in an antique shop.  It is reasonably priced, has no engraving on it but is nicely gilded inside.

I have seen a lot of boxes with lovely well preserved exteriors but blackened and damaged interior gilding.

I was wondering if the gilding in snuff boxes would stand up to the black and brown rappees that I like or would the salt and ammonia contents of the rappees corrode the gilding ?

Does anyone have any experience of this sort of thing?

I have never bought a silver box before and would like to know the pitfalls that are lurking for the unwary.

Gold doesnt oxidize so if its gilded inside it should be good for even the moistest snuffs, my 2 silver boxes are both gilded inside I wouldnt want to put moist snuffs in a metal box that wasnt gilded or gold plated inside.